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Upon closing its Series D funding round in June 2021, sennder reserved 12% of company shares to be owned by employees through virtual options
sennder also gave employees the option to cash out existing holdings, with some employees choosing to do so, leading to a $2m payout
The business believes share options are a key component of a flourishing startup ecosystem that should be the beneficiary of tax reforms
BERLIN, January 27, 2022 – sennder, Europe’s leading digital road freight forwarder, has a Virtual Stock Option Program (VSOP), aimed at rewarding the performance and commitment of its employees, attracting and retaining talent across Europe, and enabling the next generation of entrepreneurs.
After the second closing of sennder’s $240 million Series D financing round in June 2021, sennder set aside 12% of the company shares for employees. Alongside allocating new virtual holdings, those employees that were already holding vested options had the opportunity to cash-out part of their shareholding. sennder paid out $2 million in total as a part of this share exchange.
Since its founding in 2015, Berlin-based sennder has grown to over 900 people across eight international offices. The virtual stock option program gives employees a stake in sennder’s future success and rewards their performance.
**Ann Wagner, Senior Manager for People Experience at sennder, says: “**We want our people to professionally grow alongside the business and feel financially rewarded. Our virtual share options program delivers on this. We believe share options are critical to attracting the best international talent and retaining Europe’s brightest minds.”
Nicolaus Schefenacker, Co-Founder and CSO at sennder, states: “At sennder, we are consistently looking for new ways to reward and engage our employees. We want to invest in our employees and they want to feel invested in us; one way we can facilitate this is by offering virtual share options. Stock options are a critical component of a flourishing, competitive start-up ecosystem. Many employees want to own shares so they are financially invested in the success of their employer. Across Europe company shares are typically taxed at the lower capital gains tax rate. However, in Germany, employees typically pay a high rate on an income taxation basis for returns on their VSOPs. To ensure Germany continues to be a vibrant home for technology, we at sennder encourage changes to VSOP taxation policies.”
About sennder
sennder was founded in 2015 by David Nothacker, Julius Köhler, and Nicolaus Schefenacker and is the leading digital European freight forwarder, offering shippers access to our connected fleet of thousands of trucks. In a traditional industry sennder is moving fast and focuses on the digitalization and automation of all road logistics processes. sennder deploys over 40,000 trucks across Europe, with access to more than 120,000 vehicles and has a team of over 900 people. By leveraging its proprietary technology, sennder builds an ecosystem that leads the industry into the 21st century with a new degree of transparency, efficiency and flexibility. sennder is backed by some of Europe’s leading investors including Baillie Gifford, Accel, Lakestar, Fiege, HV Capital, Project A, Next47, Scania Growth Capital, Earlybird and Perpetual. Additionally, sennder joined forces with industry champions Scania and Siemens to assure innovation and state of the art offerings.
For further information, please visit us on our website and LinkedIn.
Media Contacts:
sennder
Kekst CNC – sennder@kekstcnc.com – James Hartwell / Marisa Wagner
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