Fables of ESOP: It’s a Big Billion Payday for Flipkart Employees
There were a few interesting updates in January including arguably the largest ESOP liquidity event by an Indian startup.
March saw ESOP activity form a handful of companies. We have liquidity programs announced by 3 companies – Souled Store, Betterhalf.ai and Sirona. While there were ESOP pool announcements by Harvest Farmer Network (HFN), Coforge, Khiladi Adda and Wipro among others. Let’s do a quick round-up.
Feminine hygiene startup Sirona Hygiene which is majorly held by The Good Glamm Group post their INR 100CR investment last year, introduced an ESOP Liquidity program worth INR 5 Cr for its employees. The program will run in two phases, first covering the earlier employees and later for the new employees.
Betterhalf.ai which recently announced their Series A funding of $8.5 million by Finsight Ventures also announced their second ESOP liquidity program. Their first ESOP program was announced last year post their pre-A round funding which was a record of sorts given their ability to offer liquidity opportunity to employees at a relatively early stage of company’s growth.
Souled Store, a lifestyle and fan merchandise startup, who announced their $16.4 million Series C funding recently also announced an undisclosed ESOP buyback program. The unique aspect of the buyback program is that the company is offering to buyback 100% of vested options and they have signalled that they intend to make it a ‘habit’, in a way indicating continuous opportunities for employees to liquidate and seek value from their ESOPs.
Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)worth Rs 12 crore have been made available to all Harvesting Farmer Network(HFN) employees, regardless of their designation or position in the organization's hierarchy. Around 35 employees will be eligible for this program.
All qualified workers will have access to the ESOPs, and the quantity of shares awarded will depend on each employee's duration, performance, and contribution to the expansion of the business.
Khiladi Adda, an online gaming platform has announced setting up of a 10% pool for its Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) program. The ESOP program will be managed by a separate ESOP trust.
Recognizing the commitment of its early employees, Khiladi Adda will roll out the first set of ESOP grants to eleven employees who have been with the company for atleast 2years and have contributed to the growth of the company.
Wipro has allotted 1,39,579 equity shares under ADS Restricted Stock Unit Plan 2004 on 21 March 2023 pursuant to exercise of ESOPs
Coforge has allotted 10,834 equity shares on 19 March2023 under ESOP. The paid-up share capital of the company has gone up to6,10,87,080 at face value of 10Rs each.
Team Qapita spoke with Umashankar Acharya, Partner -Consulting from ESOP Direct to decode all aspects regarding ESOP Trusts. Right from when companies should consider setting up a trust, what does it entail and how should one go about setting up one. Catch the LinkedIn Live recording here.
ESOP Valuations & Disclosures – It’s that time of the year!
As the audit season starts, it also is a time when companies need to comply by the financial guidelines as per accounting standards and defend their valuations. There are several valuation and disclosure formalities that companies need to engage in as part of their annual audit and year-end formalities.
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