Vedantu unveils $3 million Esop buyback scheme

Online tutoring platform Vedantu on Friday said it will buy back employee stock options (Esops) worth $3 million. Top leadership and active employees who have completed the vesting period will be eligible for the scheme, but founders will not participate in the buyback, the company said.

“We have seen enormous growth over the last few years, and we take immense pride in the impact we are creating in the lives of our students. As Vedantu grows, we want our employees to grow with us as well as they are equal contributors towards this growth. By growing the technology, engineering and product teams across all functions, Esops provide employees with high ownership, while providing more opportunities for financial growth,” said Vamsi Krishna, CEO and co-founder, Vedantu.

“We want to enable long-term wealth creation for our employees and recognize their contribution and commitment,” he added.

Vedantu’s Esop buyback programme comes on the heels of the company raising $100 million in September, led by Singapore-based ABC World Asia. The round also saw participation from existing investors Coatue, Tiger Global and GGV Capital, valuing the firm at $1 billion.

Eleven-year-old Vedantu focuses on providing live tutoring courses to students from 3 years to 18 years of age. It also offers test preparation for competitive exams such as IIT-JEE, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, and school boards such as Central Board of Secondary Education, Indian Certificate of Secondary Education, and state exams such as Maharashtra boards.

For Vedantu, almost 55-60% of the revenues come from live tutoring offerings, with test preparation contributing to 30-35% of overall revenues, Krishna had told Mint in an earlier interview.

Post its latest fundraise, the company was planning to set foot in international markets over the next 12-15 months, exploring West Asia and Southeast Asian geographies as pote-ntial targets for expansion.

The company now claims to have over 1 million students attending live classes on its platform every month. Further, more than 35 million users every month from over 10,000 cities worldwide access free content, tests, doubts, videos on Vedantu’s platform and its YouTube channel, the company said.