Edtech platform Simplilearn has announced its first-ever Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) buyback worth Rs 48.74 crore. The buyback was undertaken as part of the recent investment by Blackstone earlier this year.
The company had offered active employees to liquidate up to 25% of their vested ESOPs as part of this buyback, out of which 65% of them with ESOPs liquidated their options.
Founded in 2009, Simplilearn is an digital upskilling platform which provides training in Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Project Management, Digital Marketing, and Data Science, among others.
The programs are co-created with leading universities like MIT and Caltech and leading industry partners like IBM, Microsoft Azure, and Meta.
According to an ET report, Simplilearn was in talks to raise a new round at around $700 million valuation. If the deal goes through, Simplilearn will become one of the most valued startups in this segment.
Last week, edtech unicorn Vedantu also announced its first ESOP buyback program worth Rs 20 crore.