Bengaluru: Payment solutions startup Razorpay on Wednesday announced an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) buyback for both existing and former employees, who own equity in the startup. The company, however, did not disclose the value of the buyback deal.
All existing and former employees who hold vested stocks will be eligible to sell up to 30% of their vested ESOP shares of the company, the company said in a statement. Sequoia India and Ribbit Capital, two of Razorpay’s key investors will buy back the shares at a premium, the statement added.
“Over 400 employees as young as 23 will be eligible to participate and with this, we aim to motivate the Razorpay team to continue creating value, both for the company and themselves," said Harshil Mathur, chief executive, Razorpay.
“The last four-and-a-half years have been a fantastic journey and given where we are at this point, we are enthusiastic about the revolution that we are here to make in payments and banking industry. At Razorpay, it is important for us to ensure that our employees also grow along with the company and the ESOP buyback model is a form of wealth creation for all the employees," added Mathur.
This is Razorpay’s second ESOP buyback plan after it initially announced a similar exercise in November 2018. At that time, Tiger Global led the buyback at a 50% premium of the company’s valuation.
Razorpay was valued at over $450 million according to an Economic Times report when it last raised $75 million led by Ribbit Capital and Sequoia Capital in June. So far, Razorpay has raised a total of $31.5 million in Series A (2016) and Series B (2018) rounds, along with 33 angel investors and a strategic investment by MasterCard.
Established in 2014, Razorpay provides tech payment solutions to over 350,000 businesses. It said it grew 500% in the last year. It currently powers digital payments for businesses like IRCTC, Airtel, BookMyShow, Zomato, Swiggy, Yatra and Zerodha, among others.
