Urban Company announces ESOP secondary sale worth Rs 203 Cr for 446 employees

Home service marketplace Urban Company has announced its largest employee stock secondary sale worth Rs 203 crore (nearly $25 million). This is the fifth ESOPs buyback wherein 446 employees have participated, according to the company’s press statement.

As per Urban Company, beneficiary employees are between 23 and 56 years old, with 28% of beneficiaries being women.

This sale will give the company’s employees an opportunity to liquidate their vested stocks. Dharana Capital (an offshoot of existing investor Vy Capital), along with existing investors Vy Capital and Prosus will be purchasing these shares from former and current staff.

To date, Urban Company has granted ESOPs to 1,593 employees and around 784 of them participated in five buybacks, liquidating ESOPs worth Rs 306 crore ($37 million).

The Abhiraj Singh Bhal-led company did its last ESOP liquidity program in December 2021 at a valuation of $2.8 billion. The company did not disclose the valuation of the latest buyback. However, Entrackr’s sources outline that the fresh buyback is happening at a valuation of around $2.2 billion to $2.5 billion.

Just ahead of the fourth buyback, Urban Company achieved unicorn status in June 2021. It hasn't raised any external capital since then.

According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Urban Company posted a revenue of Rs 637 crore in FY23 and managed to reduce its losses by 40.1% during the fiscal year.

The buyback of ESOPs came a month after it turned profitable at PBT (profit before tax) level. On a consolidated basis in April, the company posted PBT of Rs 7 crore. Entrackr had exclusively reported the development earlier this month. The company also expects its operations in UAE to become profitable in the coming months.

As per sources, Urban Company is preparing for a public listing which is likely to happen in the second half of next year (2025).