EquityBee Appoints Kevin Smith as Chief Legal Officer

EquityBee, the employee-focused stock options funding solution, announced it has appointed Kevin Smith as chief legal officer. Smith will focus on new product development and rollout while building a global legal and compliance team as EquityBee continues to innovate on an increasingly large scale.

“Kevin’s work as outside counsel for public technology companies and as an advisor for companies and boards on legal, corporate governance, transactions, and general corporate and business matters is an important asset and will additionally promote EquityBee as a category leader in the fast-evolving fintech marketplace.”

Smith has more than 20 years of experience building legal and compliance operations for global businesses. Companies he founded include Seedchange, the first FINRA-registered online broker-dealer for early stage investing; and The Vault, a leading Silicon Valley-based startup acceleration space and innovation center.

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At BlackRock/Barclays Global Investors, Smith built the Latin America legal and compliance team from its inception and advised its global iShares business on cross-border transactions and IP issues. At law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, Smith led deal teams for acquisitions, debt and equity securities offerings, including IPOs. Most recently, at SV Law Group, Smith advised emerging growth companies on fundraising and venture financing, international expansions, mergers and acquisitions, compliance, broker-dealer operations, private securities and developing financial instruments.

“Kevin Smith is a key team member for EquityBee. He will further develop our legal and FinOps infrastructure and help us scale our platform as a best-in-class fintech operation,” said EquityBee CEO Oren Barzilai. “Kevin’s work as outside counsel for public technology companies and as an advisor for companies and boards on legal, corporate governance, transactions, and general corporate and business matters is an important asset and will additionally promote EquityBee as a category leader in the fast-evolving fintech marketplace.”

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“I love working with smart, creative people building companies, products and services that add value to people’s lives,” said Smith. “Fintech companies in general are at the center of a really interesting Venn diagram where innovations in technology, law, policy, and regulation overlap. EquityBee’s mission is creating new financial tools to allow the world’s startup builders to become shareholders in the companies they build; that’s a cause and a team I really want to be part of.”

Smith received a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford University, where he also served as editor-in-chief of the Stanford Journal of International Law; class treasurer and member of the Reunion Fundraising Committee; vice president of business development, Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students (BASES), the world’s largest student-run startup organization; and alumni mentor for BASES executives.

Smith also has an extensive education in foreign languages and culture. He received a Master of Arts degree with doctoral studies in Slavic literatures and cultures from the University of California, Berkeley; certificates in international relations and law and French studies from the Université de Strasbourg; and a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in European studies and Russian from Vanderbilt University.

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