As per the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) filed by MobiKwik, the Indian mobile wallet will reward its deserving employees with ESOPs, on public listing. The Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform, based in Gurugram, has reserved 4.5 million equity shares under its ESOP 2014 Scheme, to create a pool of ESOPs for eligible staff members. That means, the IPO-bound Company will keep aside seven per cent of its equity for ESOPs. This makes MobiKwik the first Indian fintech company to file its DRHP with SEBI.
These stock options are aimed at attracting quality talent and retaining the existing employees.
While 20% of the fintech startup’s grants happened around July, it plans to raise Rs 1,900 crore or $255 million through its impending IPO. The platform will raise Rs 1,500 crore via primary share sale, while the rest will be raised via sale of stakes by existing investors, including Cisco, Bajaj Finance, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Sequoia Capital India and American Express.
MobiKwik last raised a Series G round of US$20 million from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) at a value of Rs 895.80 per share. This implies, 600 per cent gain on average for the employees on their ESOPs (at last round price). At the latest series G funding round valuation of US$720 million, seven employees are worth more than Rs 100 million and 31 are worth more than Rs 10 million each. About 118 of the existing employees (almost a fourth of the workforce) have become rupee millionaires. This only proves the Company’s belief in ensuring equitable participation as opposed to just focusing on the leadership team. The cumulative wealth creation for the employees currently stands at Rs 3 billion. With the IPO around the corner, these employees will profit tremendously.
Upasana Taku, chairperson, co-founder & COO, MobiKwik, the ESOPs are a way to “cement our presence and leadership further” and “acknowledge and reward our employees for their efforts. Together we march in our pursuit of building the most inclusive digital payments and credit experience for Bharat, while generating value for all.”
MobiKwik, which was founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, now has over 108 million registered Users, 22.3 million pre-approved BNPL users and over 3.4 million merchant partners.
