Zetwerk and WMall to reward their employees through ESOPs

Business to business marketplace for custom manufacturing Zetwerk has expanded its ESOP pool and social plus video commerce platform WMall has adopted a new ESOP policy.

Zetwerk has expanded its stock options by adding Rs 4.77 crore, regulatory filings show, and the company has made an allotment of 917 equity shares to 24 employees under the ESOP scheme. 

The biggest beneficiaries of the latest allotment are Zetwerk’s founders Rahul Sharma and Vishal Choudhary. The duo have received 269 equity shares each which are worth Rs 2.8 crore collectively. 

The ESOP expansion for the Bengaluru-based company has come two months after it had secured Rs 156.4 crore ($20.8 million) in a Series C funding round in July led by its existing backers Greenoaks Capital and Accel Partners. It was valued at around Rs 1,820 crore ($242.6 million) at that time. 

Entrackr had exclusively reported about the company’s Series C round.

Bengaluru-based WMall has also adopted a new ESOP policy which is worth Rs 16.4 crore. The company has passed a special resolution to approve the adoption of WMall Employee Stock Option Plan 2020 under which it has granted 1667 equity shares, filings show. 

WMall sells products through a combination of video and text. It essentially leverages WhatsApp and YouTube to push third party products in Gujarati and Hindi. The firm primarily focuses on lifestyle, home decor, apparels and kitchen essentials. It had raised $9 million from Chiratae and SAIF in November 2019. 

The ESOP expansion by the early-stage companies is a good sign for the Indian startup ecosystem. Recently, Shuttl and ShareChat have also expanded their ESOP pools.