lemon.markets has entered into a partnership with Optio Incentives, the leading equity compensation platform in Europe.
By integrating lemon.markets’ digital brokerage and custody infrastructure, Optio Incentives “enhances the end-to-end experience for employees in Germany who receive shares as part of their compensation.”
The joint solution powers employee stock programs “for IPO-ready and publicly listed companies in Germany, including for a DAX-listed company.”
Having expanded its brokerage-as-a-service platform to “include stocks and collaborating with institutions such as BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank, lemon.markets supports the investment value chain for Optio Incentives.”
As a BaFin-licensed investment firm, lemon.markets enables “efficient and tax compliant handling of shares through a single API.”
This supports a fully “integrated, efficient and digital experience for employees managing their equity compensation.”
Christoffer Herheim, CEO at Optio Incentives said:
“By combining Optio Incentives’ expertise in equity compensation with lemon.markets’ modern brokerage and custody infrastructure, we are providing an improved experience for our German customers. Germany is a key market for us, and this collaboration allows us to further our mission of making equity-based compensation more accessible – by building a solution that is not only efficient, but also adapted to local requirements and realities.”
Max Linden, Founder & CEO of lemon.markets, adds:
“We’re excited to partner with Optio Incentives, a European leader in employee compensation solutions. This partnership highlights how lemon.markets can enable a wide range of software-driven investment use cases. Supporting a German DAX-listed company underlines the operational, technical, and regulatory strength of our platform.”
This partnership is said to demonstrate lemon.markets’ ability to “support a range of investment use cases through a single API, and sets a new benchmark for accessibility and efficiency in Germany’s equity compensation market.”
Optio Incentives’ solution, used by listed companies in Germany, is “built to support publicly listed companies both in the country and globally.”
The Berlin-based FinTech lemon.markets, founded in 2020 by Max Linden, operates “as a brokerage-as-a-service platform.”
lemon.markets is on a mission “to open 100 million brokerage accounts within the next ten years.”
Through its BaFin-licensed subsidiary lemon.markets brokerage GmbH, the group “provides the IT-infrastructure for FinTechs, banks and asset managers, driving the next generation of investment products.”
International investors, including CommerzVentures, Creandum, Lakestar, Lightspeed, and System.one, have “invested over 28 million euros in the company.”
Optio Incentives helps IPO-ready and listed companies “manage employee equity compensation with ease.”
As noted in the update, Optio enables companies “to launch and manage global share plans — and helps employees understand their equity.”
The platform makes it simple for employees “to see the value of their shares, while finance and HR teams stay compliant and automate both financial and plan-related reporting with confidence.”