BENGALURU: Working in a unicorn has its own perks and Employee Stock Option Plan is one of them. On Tuesday, mobile wallet start-up, MobiKwik which filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) earlier said that it has reserved 7% of its equity to the company’s employees, of which 20% has already been granted at the time of filing the prospectus.
MobiKwik last raised a Series G round of $20 million from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) at a per-share value of `895.80. This implies a 600% gain on average for the employees on their ESOPs (even at the last round price).
The company is planning to raise $255 million (`1,900 crore) at a $1-billion valuation from the last financing round at $720 mn valuation. “This six-fold increase in the ESOPs’ value has created generational wealth for the employees. It is the result of both the trust shown by employees in the company’s vision and the partnership-like approach taken by the company in sharing the rewards of value generation over time with the employee,” MobiKwik said in a statement.
ESOP gives an organisation’s employees ownership in the company in the form of stock options.The company under its ESOP 2014 Scheme, has reserved 4.5 million equity shares, for creating a pool of ESOPs. The number of equity shares that would arise from the full exercise of options granted implies 7% of the fully diluted outstanding shares; 20% of these grants have occurred around the filing of the DRHP. This 7% compares to less than 2% holding for most internet companies coming up for listing.