Paytm allots shares worth $12 Mn to current and former employees under ESOP

Paytm has allotted fresh shares to its current and former employees under ESOP scheme, making it the second unicorn after Nykaa to offer fresh allotment this year.

The board at Paytm’s parent 0ne97 Communications has passed a special resolution to approve the allotment of 28,968 equity shares to 36 present and former employees aggregating to $12 million, regulatory filings show.

One of the biggest beneficiaries is Sunil Goyal who will hold $4.6 million worth of shares. Siddhartha Pandey, Mayank Chawla, Indu Bhushan Misra and Mrinal Shah will also get shares under the company's ESOP scheme.

Goyal was the co-founder of hyperlocal delivery startup Near. in which was acquired by Paytm in 2015. He was serving as the senior vice president in Paytm before moving on to Bharti Airtel as their head of engineering (digital customer experience).

In April 2020, Paytm had announced that it would offer ESOPs worth Rs 250 crore to its high performing employees and new hires. Since then, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led company has allotted ESOPs worth $1.83 million to its employees in May. It had also allotted equity shares in July to the co-founders and employees of WeavedIn, a company it had acquired in October 2018.   

The fresh allotment reflects a good sign for the company which had to go through layoffs during Covid-19 induced pandemic. However, the company also said that it would hire over 500 people for multiple roles apart from continued hiring for roles in its product and technology teams. 

The current ESOP allotment might be a part of the previous announcement. 

In October 2019, Paytm had added Rs 300 crore to its revised ESOP scheme which will have a maximum vesting period of 5 years. According to Fintrackr’s back of the envelope estimate, Paytm’s entire ESOP pool was valued at about Rs 3,150 crore in late 2019.

Paytm will join the likes of CRED, Nykaa and FarEye, which have either bought back or rewarded their employees with fresh ESOP allotment in 2021.