What 9,000+ verified new-hire option grants across 2,500+ startups reveal about startup employee equity.
Published August 2026 · Data snapshot: July 28, 2026
Startup employee equity is far from standardized. Even among comparable new hires, Fair Market Value (FMV) based grant amounts vary meaningfully by seniority, company valuation, department, company headquarters location, when the grant was issued, and company-specific grant patterns. This report shows where those differences are largest and how the market has changed since 2016.
How to read this report
How we measure startup employee equity
This report analyzes new-hire stock option grants issued to employees when they join a startup. To compare grants across companies, Equitybee uses the fair market value of the common shares underlying each grant at the time it was issued.
What FMV means
Private startups do not have a continuously traded share price. For U.S. private companies, a 409A valuation from an independent valuation firm is typically used to establish the fair market value, or FMV, of one common share. Companies generally update that valuation at least every 12 months, or sooner after a material event such as a financing round.When an employee receives an option grant, the strike price per option is set using the current FMV per common share. Equitybee takes that strike price directly from the employee's verified grant notice.
Number of options x strike price per option = FMV-based grant amount
For example, 20,000 options with a $2.25 strike price produce a $45,000 FMV-based grant amount. The metric provides a consistent way to compare grants across private companies. It is not an estimate of ownership percentage, future option value, or eventual proceeds.
Executive summary
Five findings from the Equitybee Benchmark
The median provides a starting point. The larger story is how much grant amounts differ across employee and company contexts.
15.8x
Executive-to-Individual Contributor (IC) gap at Series D+
The same adjusted gap is 9.4x at Seed and Series A, showing a wider seniority spread at later stages.
3.4x
Grant amount at 10x company valuation
A 10x higher investor-set valuation is associated with only about a 3.4x higher FMV-based grant amount.
2.1x
Upper vs. lower company quartile
Company-specific grant levels remain materially different even after employee and company characteristics are considered.
2.18x
Product vs. Sales within companies
Product and Engineering form the highest grant tier in the within-company analysis.
45%
Bay Area headquarters premium
The adjusted premium appears across every company stage and is largest at later stages.
The market today
$45,440 is the median FMV-based amount for a new-hire option grant
Half of the grants in the headline benchmark had FMV-based amounts between $16,320 and $123,400. One quarter were below that range, and one quarter were above it.
The 25th to 75th percentile range spans 7.6x, showing why a single market-wide median is only a starting point.
FMV-based new-hire grant amount distribution
The higher grant environment established in 2021 has persisted through 2026
Looking across grant values between 2016 to 2026, the largest step-up in observed grant amounts occurred in 2020 and 2021. The observed median reached $66,960 in the first half of 2026, the highest annual level in the series so far.
Observed annual median FMV-based grant amount. The 2026 figure covers grants through June.
After accounting for seniority, company stage, department, and industry, the 2026 year-to-date grant level was 3.3x the 2016 level and only 4% above 2025. So far, 2026 looks more like a continuation of an elevated post-2021 baseline than another sharp step-up.
Observed and composition-adjusted new-hire grant trend
Source: Equitybee Benchmark. The headline benchmark uses grants from 2019 through June 2026. The historical trend uses eligible grants from 2016 through June 2026.
Seniority and company stage
The equity gap between seniority levels widens at later company stages
FMV-based grant amounts are higher at more senior levels, and the adjusted executive-to-IC gap widens from 9.4x at Seed and Series A to 15.8x at Series D+.
Adjusted Series D+ new-hire grant level relative to Seed and Series A within each seniority band.
The stage increase is not uniform across the organization. It is about 2.4x for ICs and 4.0x for VPs and C-level executives. Executive grants are also the least standardized category, with a P90-to-P10 range of more than 50x.
What the data shows: later-stage companies do not simply move every role upward by the same amount. The spread between employee levels becomes wider, especially at the executive end of the market.
Source: Equitybee Benchmark adjusted analysis.
DEPARTMENT
Product and Engineering form the highest grant tier within companies
In within-company comparisons, Product new-hire grants were 2.18x Sales grants and Engineering grants were 2.07x Sales grants.
Adjusted FMV-based grant amount by department, relative to Sales, using within-company comparisons.
The pattern is consistent across most seniority levels: Product and Engineering sit close to one another at the top of the distribution. This suggests companies use a larger equity component for roles closest to building and shaping the product, rather than treating all functions as one equity market.
Source: Equitybee Benchmark within-company analysis.
COMPANY VALUATION
Company valuation rises faster than employee grant amounts
Among comparable employees, a 10x higher investor-set company valuation was associated with about a 3.4x higher FMV-based new-hire grant amount.
FMV-based new-hire grant amounts increase with investor-set company valuation, but at a slower rate than valuation itself.
Funding stage and company valuation usually move together, so stage is useful shorthand when valuation is unknown. But stage bands are broad. Two Series C companies can have very different investor-set valuations. In the valuation-matched analysis, once investor-set valuation was included, the stage label added very little additional information about the FMV-based grant amount.
In practical terms: the round label is useful when valuation is unavailable. When a current investor-set valuation is known, it is the more informative measure in this analysis.
Companies at the same stage can still be at different points in their development
A five-year-old Series C and a ten-year-old Series C share the same stage label, but they reached that point over different timelines and under different valuation conditions. Within the same stage, each additional five years of company age was associated with 14% lower adjusted grant amounts at Series B, 24% lower at Series C, and 17% lower at Series D+. There was no clear relationship at Seed and Series A.
The age relationship became weaker once company valuation was included, suggesting that valuation accounts for part of the observed difference.
Source: Equitybee Benchmark analysis with company valuation, financing, founding year, and related company data from PitchBook.
Company-specific grant patterns
Company-specific grant levels differ 2.1x between upper and lower quartiles
After accounting for seniority, company stage, department, industry, and when the grant was issued, some companies consistently sit above or below the broader benchmark.
Estimated company grant levels after adjustment, normalized to the median company.
Higher-grant companies are more valuable and better funded, but those factors do not explain the full gap.
Profile of lower and upper-quartile companies
Upper-quartile companies are more valuable, have raised more capital, and are more concentrated in the Bay Area. They are not materially older or larger by employee count. Even after valuation, capital raised, employee count, company age, headquarters location, and industry were included, the remaining upper-to-lower quartile gap was still about 1.8x.
The implication: stage, size, and valuation do not fully describe how a company uses equity in new-hire compensation. Company-specific grant patterns remain a meaningful part of the offer.
Source: Equitybee Benchmark company-level analysis with company profile data from PitchBook.
Company headquarters location
Bay Area-headquartered companies show a persistent grant premium
After accounting for seniority, stage, department, industry, company age, and when the grant was issued, Bay Area-headquartered companies issued new-hire grants with about 45% higher FMV-based amounts than other U.S.-headquartered companies.
The Bay Area headquarters premium appears across every stage and is larger at later stages. The comparison uses company headquarters, not employee location.
The Bay Area is the clearest geographic outlier in the analysis. The direction is also consistent with salary research from Carta. In its H1 2024 startup compensation report, Carta found startup employee compensation in the Bay Area was typically higher than in other western U.S. metros. Read Carta's compensation research.
Source: Equitybee Benchmark analysis with company headquarters data from PitchBook. External salary context: Carta.
METHODOLOGY
How the analysis was built
The Equitybee Benchmark dataset contains more than 9,000 verified employee option grants across more than 2,500 startups. Individual analyses use the subset of records with the employee, company, and timing information required for that analysis.
Equitybee data
The report uses new-hire option grants verified through Equitybee's platform and data-review process. The grant-data snapshot was created on July 28, 2026. The data has not been independently verified.
PitchBook enrichment
Company valuation, financing, headquarters location, founding year, capital raised, employee count, and related company fields were enriched using a PitchBook export dated July 29, 2026.
Analysis scope
Scope used for each analysis
409A FMV, strike price, and FMV-based grant amount
For each verified new-hire option grant, Equitybee uses the strike price per option shown on the employee's grant notice. At U.S. private companies, the strike price is set using the company's current 409A fair market value for common stock. Companies generally refresh the 409A valuation at least every 12 months or following a material event. Equitybee does not independently calculate the company's 409A valuation or strike price.
FMV-based grant amount = number of options granted x strike price per option.
The vesting start date is used as the grant date for this analysis.
Descriptive and adjusted analyses
Headline figures use medians and percentile ranges because grant amounts are highly skewed.
Founder, CEO, and records classified as Not Employee are excluded from employee analyses. Missing categories are excluded only from the analysis that requires the missing field.
Adjusted comparisons use regression models based on the natural logarithm of FMV-based grant amount.
Depending on the analysis, the models account for recorded characteristics such as seniority, company stage, department, industry, when the grant was issued, company age, headquarters location, and valuation. Within-company department comparisons use company fixed effects so functions are compared inside the same employer. Standard errors are clustered by company where applicable.
How we compared which dimensions carry the most information
We fitted a model with seniority, company stage, department, industry, and when the grant was issued. We then removed one dimension at a time and measured how much the model's ability to account for observed grant differences declined. Seniority produced the largest decline. This is a way to compare how much statistical information each recorded dimension carries in this dataset. It does not show that any dimension caused a grant difference.
Why the valuation match uses the prior 24 months
For each employee grant, the valuation analysis uses the most recent qualifying investor-set financing valuation that existed before the grant was issued, provided it was no more than 24 months old. Requiring the financing to occur before the grant avoids using future information. The 24-month window balances valuation recency with data coverage. The relationship was directionally similar when the maximum age of the matched valuation was changed to 6, 12, or 36 months.
Limitations and disclosure
The dataset reflects employees who engaged with Equitybee and may not represent every startup employee population. The FMV-based grant amount is a point-in-time comparison measure. It does not measure ownership percentage, vesting outcomes, dilution, liquidity, or realized employee proceeds, and it should not be interpreted as the future value of the option grant.
Findings describe associations in the observed data and do not establish causation. This report is for informational purposes and does not constitute investment, legal, tax, or compensation advice.
FAQ
Startup employee equity report FAQ
In this report, a new-hire option grant is the initial stock-option grant issued to an employee when they join a startup.
FMV is the fair market value of one common share when the option grant is issued. For U.S. private companies, that value is typically established through a 409A valuation. The option strike price is set using the current FMV per common share.
Equitybee multiplies the number of options granted by the strike price per option shown on the employee's verified grant notice.
The median FMV-based amount for new-hire option grants in the headline 2019 to 2026 benchmark is $45,440. Half of grants fall between $16,320 and $123,400. The headline benchmark focuses on the more recent market, while 2016 to 2018 data is included in the historical trend analysis.
Grant amounts are higher at more senior levels, and the seniority gap is wider at later company stages. The executive-to-IC gap rises from 9.4x at Seed and Series A to 15.8x at Series D+ in the adjusted analysis.
Product and Engineering form the highest tier in the within-company analysis. Product grants are 2.18x Sales and Engineering grants are 2.07x Sales after adjustment.
A 2x higher investor-set valuation is associated with about a 1.45x higher FMV-based grant amount. A 10x higher valuation is associated with about a 3.4x higher grant amount.
Yes in this dataset. Bay Area-headquartered companies show about a 45% higher adjusted FMV-based grant amount than other U.S.-headquartered companies, with the premium appearing across company stages.
Yes. The largest step-up occurred around 2020 and 2021. After adjusting for employee and company mix, 2026 year-to-date remains about 3.3x the 2016 level and only 4% above 2025, suggesting persistence rather than another sharp step-up.
This report is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, financial, legal, tax, or compensation advice, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. The findings are based on new-hire option grants verified through Equitybee and reflect employees who engaged with Equitybee; they may not be representative of all startups or employees. The underlying data and third-party company information used in this report have not been independently verified. FMV-based grant amounts are point-in-time comparison measures and should not be interpreted as ownership percentage, future value, liquidity, or realized proceeds. Analyses describe associations observed in the data and do not establish causation. Certain company information used in the analysis is sourced from third-party data providers and is subject to the availability and accuracy of those sources.