Exclusive: Purplle expands ESOP pool size to $40 Mn

Joining the likes of many growth and late-stage startups, Purplle has expanded its employee stock options (ESOPs) pool. The expansion has come after six months of the company’s $140 million worth Series D round.

The board of Purplle has passed the resolution to increase their existing ESOP pool to 6,806 ESOP options and each option will be converted into equity shares, its regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show.

As per Fintrackr’s estimates, the value of the total ESOP pool size of Purplle is now worth Rs 313 crore or $40 million.

Purplle is one of the well funded startups in the beauty and cosmetic space after Nykaa. According to Fintrackr, the company was valued at about $725 million in its last round.

Purplle is mostly a marketplace but it also sells private labels such as Good Vibes. Last year, the company also made two investments in the beauty space including Juicy Chemistry and Faces Canada. Close to one-third of its volume comes from private labels. Apart from Nykaa, the company also competes with horizontal marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Good Glamm Group among others.

This year, several startups across stages including LEAP, Wiz Freight, Ather Energy, Ninjacart, Ecom Express, Pine Labs and VeGrow have expanded their ESOP pool by adding more stock options. As far as ESOP buyback is concerned, Indian startups have bought back ESOP worth $175 million held by their employees. As per Fintrackr’s data, the buyback amount during 2021 was recorded at $440 million.

Despite the pandemic, Purplle had managed to grow its scale by 40.2% to Rs 128.2 crore during FY21 from Rs 91.4 crore in FY20. Meanwhile, its annual losses surged by 114% to Rs 52.2 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2021.