Urban Company launches restricted stock unit for US-based employees

Home service marketplace Urban Company has introduced a restricted stock unit (RSU) worth Rs 74 crore or $9.5 million for its US-based employees.

Urban Company board has passed a special resolution to grant 2,800 RSU to the employees of its American subsidiary, the company’s regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show. Importantly, these RSU will be drawn from the company’s Employee option Scheme 2015.

RSU refers to a form of compensation issued by a company to an employee in the form of shares. These stocks are fully transferable only after fulfilling certain conditions such as time-based and milestone-based restrictions.

“Equity component in the compensation goes a long way in aligning the objectives of an individual with those of the organization," the company quoted in the filing.

Besides more than 50 cities in India, Urban Company operates in Australia, Singapore, US, UAE and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In December 2021, the Gurugram-based company had concluded an ESOP sale program worth Rs 55 crore or $7.3 million. So far, it has facilitated ESOP sales worth Rs 100 crore or $13.5 million for its 940 employees. The company’s maiden ESOPs sale worth $500K was held in June 2017, followed by the second such event in December 2018 and the third in August 2020. 

Urban Company turned unicorn in June last year when it raised $255 million in a Series F round led by Prosus, Dragoneer and Wellington Management at a valuation of $2.1 billion. The company’s valuation jumped to $2.8 billion during its last ESOP sale program. According to Fintrackr’s data, the Tiger Global-backed firm has raised $435 million across primary and secondary rounds since its inception in 2014.

Urban Company has rolled out several employee-focused programs in the recent past. Four months ago, the Abhiraj Bhal-led company announced a Stock Ownership Plan (PSOP) for its service providers. Under the initiative, it will award stocks worth Rs 150 crore or $19.8 million to thousands of service partners over the next 5-7 years. 

Last year, the company announced an open-source ESOP framework in collaboration with trica equity (earlier MyStartupEquity), a cap table and ESOP management product by LetsVenture. The framework advocates better policies, structure terms and conditions among others.

While Urban Company is yet to file its annual financial statement for FY22, the firm managed to grow its operating revenue by 13.3% to Rs 247.7 crore in FY21 from 218.6 crore in FY20. During the period, its losses soared 61% to Rs 249.3 crore as compared to Rs 155.2 crore in the preceding fiscal year.