Welcome to the November edition of Fables of ESOPs. November witnessed many more companies rolling out their ESOP liquidity programs. Inspite of the ongoing funding winter, with many more companies choosing ESOP as their preferred choice, it is projected to get better over the next few months.
Some highlights from this month are-:
Vivriti Capital, a new-age technology-enabled lender, initiated an ESOP liquidity program worth $12 Million to over 100 team members. As few members of the team decided to stay on their current stock plan, this ESOP program was offered to 47 team members resulting in $6 Million worth of wealth creation.
The company believes in the power of ESOPs to increase the engagement and retention of their employees. Vineet Sukumar, Founder and CEO of Vivriti Capital quoted “We aimed to democratize wealth creation for our team. Our team members are an integral part of Vivriti's journey to becoming India's largest mid-market lender and asset manager.”
The new PhonePe funding round led by Walmart is expected to raise $1.5 - $2 Billion. Several current and former staff were conveyed about the opportunity to cash in on part of their stockholding in the company. Flipkart's valuation will go from $37.6 billion to around $33 billion as a result of the overall transaction, and PhonePe will have a separate shareholding structure. PhonePe is currently listed as an asset in Flipkart's valuation with a $5.5 billion value.
Even though companies continue to grapple with cash issues, they have not stopped rolling out their ESOP programs. According to regulatory filings by Paytm and Zomato, key managerial personnel have been rewarded ESOPs worth crores during the first half of FY23.
Paytm disclosed in its related-party transactions statement that for the period of April to September, top managerial personnel's ESOP expenses totaled $69 Million. Zomato's expenses during the time period were $46 Million.
Awign has announced its maiden ESOP Buyback Program worth $490K. This comes in heels to the company’s recent $ 15 Million Series B funding led by Bertelsmann Investment India. Awign claims that qualified workers will be able to sell their vested stock in the company and take part in the ESOP repurchase. There will be an option for current and former workers to sell a portion of their equity. By 2023, it also intends to increase staff size by twofold.
The retail tech startup Daalchini Technologies Pvt Ltd. has announced its first-ever ESOP Liquidity Plan for its current and former employee's worth $122k. As per a press release by the company, Daalchini’s employees with vested options are eligible to take part in the repurchase and liquidate almost 100 percent of their vested shares if they are vested as of April 2022.
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