Exclusive: Swiggy’s ESOP pool touches Rs 1,600 Cr

Swiggy is a rare consumer Internet company that managed to scale up at a rapid pace. Unlike most unicorns, it’s young but its growth curve and execution have been far ahead of its peers.  

And to reward its workforce who have contributed to its success, the seven-year-old Naspers-backed company has recently ramped up its employee stock ownership plan or ESOP offerings.

While ESOP allocations of unicorns and growth-stage startups have been reported widely, somehow Swiggy has succeeded in keeping the size and value of its ESOP pool a secret. However, we have decoded the figures with the help of the company’s revised articles of association.

Swiggy has expanded its ESOP pool to Rs 1,589 crore ($211.8 million) with the addition of 14,500 shares. The company has issued Series I shares at Rs 2,36,130 per share, which values the new ESOP pool close to Rs 1,589 crore.

Regulatory filings show that the company’s board has approved to increase the ESOP pool size from 52,789 shares to 67,289 equity shares amounting to 6.19 % of the share capital on a fully diluted basis. 

According to Entrackr’s calculation, the $3.65 billion company has added options worth Rs 342.4 crore ($46 million) to its existing plan. 

With the expansion of its ESOP pool, Swiggy has joined other unicorns such as Paytm and BYJU’s whose ESOPs have been valued at over Rs 1,500 crore. It’s worth noting that the size of Paytm’s ESOP pool had crossed Rs 3,100 crore mark in October 2019.

The addition of new shares has come within two months of raising $113 million at a valuation of $3.6 billion. Entrackr had exclusively reported about the round led by Naspers in February.

While we couldn’t ascertain whether the company has facilitated any buyback of ESOPs, Swiggy had delivered exits worth Rs 1,600 crore to its backers including SAIF Partners, Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, RB Investments, Harmony Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners during FY19.  

Shares of these investors were transferred to late-stage investors Naspers Ventures, Inspired Elite Investments, DST Euro Asia and Coatue PE Asia. Entrackr had exclusively reported the secondary transactions in January this year.