Razorpay announces ESOP sale of $10 mn for third consecutive year

By Leandra Monteiro

Razorpay, a recent entrant into the FinTech unicorns league announced its third ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) Buyback program worth $10Mn for its 750 employees. Through this new initiative all existing and former employees of Razorpay who hold vested stocks will be eligible to sell up to 33% of their ESOP shares. Sequoia Capital India and GIC, two of Razorpay’s key investors will be the buyers in this development.

ESOP Buybacks, something not often practised by many start-up companies is a good source of wealth creation for employees. Razorpay is one of India’s youngest startups to have facilitated the ESOP Buyback program consequently for the last three years.

From team leaders to support executives to administrative staff, the share sales is projected to be beneficial for all. Razorpay’s 1350 people team raised their $100Mn Series-D funding in October last year and the ESOP Buyback plan reflects the faith that the company has in its employees and vice versa.

Commenting on the latest announcement of its third ESOP Buyback for employee welfare, Harshil Mathur, CEO and Co-Founder, Razorpay, said, “We’ve always said and believed that our employees are the reason for every success that we have had. They 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. Our current and former employees, even as young as 23, will be eligible for this incentive, irrespective of ranks. The compensation will be rolled out to all our employees, be it software engineers, product managers, customer experience agents, or administrative staff. I believe there’s no better time than now to recognise the team for all their efforts and having trusted us in this journey.”

Razorpay was one of the few early-stage companies when its first liquidity event took place through ESOP encashment in November 2018 for its then 140 employees. The transaction was done at a 50% premium to the valuation. The second ESOP sale event occurred in November 2019, during which approximately 400 employees were eligible. To date, the company has awarded ESOPs to 1000 employees, with current employees holding a majority share.