Exclusive: IPO-bound Rivigo adopts new ESOP scheme

Adoption of employee stock option (ESOPs) pool has been all time high in the Indian startup ecosystem. Over the past couple of years, many growth and late stage startups have been doing so to attract and retain talents. Morgan Stanley-backed LEAP and Ecom Express recently adopted a new ESOP policy and Rivigo has also joined them.

Full-stack logistics and freight marketplace Rivigo has adopted a new stock option compensation plan for its employees under Rivigo Stock Option Plan 2022, according to regulatory filings.

The development comes at a time when the Gurugram-based company is reportedly planning to raise $50-100 million in a pre-IPO round.

The board of Rivigo has passed a resolution to adopt its new stock option compensation plan named ‘Rivigo Stock option plan 2022’. The new plan will constitute 22,730 options each convertible into one equity share.

As per Fintrackr’s estimates, the ESOP plan is valued at around Rs 115 crore or $15 million.

Rivigo offers relay-led trucking facilities across industries including apparels, e-commerce, automotive, frozen and processed foods. According to the company, it operates about 1,000 trucks.

Rivigo entered the unicorn club in 2019 after it raised $4.9 million from a South Korea-based KB Platform Fund. The company had also kicked off its Series G round in November 2020 in which Elevation Capital and Warburg Pincus’ affiliate SCIL had put in $11.5 million and $20 million respectively.

As of now, Rivigo has raised around $300 million across multiple equity and debt financing rounds.

During a recent interview, Garg said that the company will do a pre-IPO round this year and then take it public in 18-24 months.

In the current calendar year, several startups have announced the buyback, sale, grant and expansion of ESOP pool size. One97 Communications, the parent company of digital payments company Paytm, has granted new stock options worth Rs 222 crore or $30 million.

Leading Enterprise in Advanced Pooling (LEAP) adopted a new ESOP plan whereas online beauty and grooming products marketplace ​​Purplle expanded its ESOP pool to $40 million. Meanwhile, B2B payment gateway and neobanking platform Razorpay and SaaS-based travel and expense management platform ITILITE executed ESOP buyback events.

According to Fintrackr’s data, 20 startups across their early and growth stage have bought back ESOP worth $175 million held by their employees in 2022 so far. When compared, the amount was $440 million in 2021.