Urban Company Records 33% Jump In Valuation In ESOP Sale

Home providers market Urban Company has recorded a 33 per cent leap in valuation to $2.8 billion within the worker inventory sale programme concluded lately, the firm stated on Sunday.The firm raised Series F funding of $255 million in June, led by Prosus Ventures, Dragoneer and Wellington Management, with participation from Vy Capital, Tiger Global and Steadview, at a valuation of $2.1 billion.Urban Company shared that it has concluded the sale of ESOPs (worker inventory possession plan), price $7.3 million (Rs 54.6 crore) that have been allotted to 770 workers comprising shares of round 390 former workers."Urban Company recently concluded its fourth and largest ESOP sale programme worth $7.3 million. The ESOPs sold in this transaction have largely been purchased by existing institutional investors of the company. The transaction culminated at a valuation of $2.8 billion, up from $2.1 billion for the Series F round in June 2021," the assertion stated.With this spherical, the firm stated that it has facilitated roughly $13.21 million (about Rs 100 crore) price of liquidity for its workers and ex-employees in 4 ESOP sale programmes.Urban Company's first ESOP sale occurred in June 2017, adopted by the second ESOP sale in December 2018 and the third sale in August 2020."This is our fourth and largest ESOP secondary sale we have facilitated till date. In our experience, such liquidation opportunities strengthen the faith team members have in ESOPs as a wealth creation instrument. 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 co-founder Raghav Chandra stated.In the previous seven years, Urban Company stated that it has issued ESOPs to 940 present and ex-employees."A total of 550 of these 940 individuals have vested ESOPs, and were eligible to participate in this secondary sale programme. Employees and ex-employees could sell up to 100 per cent of their vested ESOPs as part of this sale programme," the assertion stated.