The transaction pegged the company’s valuation at $2.8 billion, which was higher than the $2.1 billion net worth it commanded during its Series F funding round in June 2021.
Over the last seven years, Urban Company has issued employee stock ownership plans to 940 current and ex-employees. 550 of these 940 individuals have vested ESOPs, and were eligible to participate in the latest secondary sale. Employees and ex-employees could sell upto 100% of their vested ESOPs. But only 4.4% of the vested ESOPs held by current employees and 10% held by ex-employees were liquidated. This indicates that employees (current and former) believe in the future success of the company, Urban Company said in a statement.
“In our experience, such liquidation opportunities strengthen the faith team members have in ESOPs as a wealth creation instrument,” cofounder Raghav Chandra said. “Further, we have focussed on creating an employee friendly ESOP programme, with features such as an exercise price of Rs 1, a linear vesting schedule and an unlimited hold period to exercise the ESOPs after an employee leaves the company.”
Urban Company conducted its first ESOP sale in June 2017, the second in December 2018 and the third in August 2020. Across the four ESOP secondaries, the company has facilitated Rs 100-crore worth of liquidity for its employees and ex-employees.
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