Razorpay announces ESOP buyback worth $10 million

Mumbai: Payment solutions startup Razorpay on Thursday announced the third employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) buyback worth $10 million or ₹73 crore for 750 existing and former employees. Sequoia Capital India and GIC, two of Razorpay's key investors, will be the buyers involved in this process, the company’s statement said.

All employees who hold vested stocks will be eligible to sell up to 33% of their ESOP shares, it said.

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“They (employees) turned an unprecedented year into one of the strongest years for Razorpay. And this ESOP Buyback is our little way of giving back to the employees for their contribution and a form of wealth creation for all, as it is important for us to ensure that our employees also grow along with the company,” said Harshil Mathur, chief executive officer and co-founder, Razorpay.

Razorpay had announced the first ESOP encashment in November 2018 for its 140 employees, when Tiger Global led the buyback at a 50% premium of the company’s valuation. The second sale occurred in November 2019 during which 400 employees were eligible. The company has so far awarded ESOPs to 1000 employees, with current employees holding a majority share, the statement said.

The Bengaluru-based start-up with an employee base of 1,350 had entered the Unicorn club in October last year, after it raised $100 mln Series-D funding at a valuation of $1 billion.

During the pandemic, the company had hired over 550 employees, and has recently announced to employ 650 more across engineering, product, customer experience, sales and marketing roles, in the next one year. “Razorpay’s hiring plans are being driven by more investment in product development, customer experience and new additions to the existing product suite so that the company caters to the ever-evolving payment and banking needs of SMEs & MSMEs,” the statement said.

Established in 2014, Razorpay provides tech payment solutions to over 350,000 businesses. It said it grew at a rate of 40-45% month-on-month in terms of payment transactions and is geared to increase its merchant count to 10 million by next year.

It currently powers digital payments for businesses like IRCTC, Airtel, BookMyShow, Zomato, Swiggy, Yatra and Zerodha, among others.