AYE Finance expands ESOP pool to Rs 46 Cr

Microlending platform Aye Finance has expanded its ESOP pool by adding nearly 189,000 fresh equity options. With this, the Gurugram-based firm has joined the likes of Lendingkart, Oyo, Byju’s, Pine Labs and ShareChat who have also expanded their ESOPs pool recently.

Aye Finance has passed a special resolution to amend its ESOP policy to increase the ESOP pool to 748,669 options from 560,294 options, regulatory filings show. According to the filings, each option is convertible into 1 equity share and the company’s new ESOP pool worth near Rs 46.5 crore.

Aye Finance is a customer-centred financial service provider to micro and small businesses. It has over 100 branches operational in 11 states across India which majorly serves segments such as manufacturing, trading and service group, among others. 

The company runs three products -- quasi mortgage loan, hypothetical loan and add-on loan -- ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,000,000 to micro or a small enterprise owner with annual business turnover between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore. According to the company’s website, it has served over 58 million enterprises since its inception in 2014.

Aye finance becomes one of the rare companies in this segment to have expanded its ESOP pool in 2020. Last month, another microlending platform Lendingkart had expanded its ESOP pool to nearly Rs 78 crore.

One of the largest funded companies in the microlending space, Aye Finance had secured around $27.5 million in Series E funding round led by its existing backer CapitalG. As per Fintrackr estimates, Aye Finance’s valuation jumped 62% from Series D round to $254.7 million in the last round. 

Fintrackr had also decoded the company's shareholding structure during its Series E round. Apart from primary capital, venture capital firm A91 partners had also poured in $20 million through a secondary sale of shares in Aye Finance in January this year.