Biz2Credit Announces ESOPs Worth $12.25 Mn For 500+ Indian Employees

US-based digital lending platform Biz2Credit on Tuesday (July 26) announced an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) liquidity scheme worth $12.25 Mn for its Indian workforce.

According to the company, the scheme will benefit more than 500 employees in the country.

“Our ESOP plan is an attempt to reward our employees’ commitment and for the role they play in helping the organisation achieve its long-term objectives. The ESOP plan reflects our company’s priorities and balances key financial measures with individual performance and tenure considerations,” Biz2Credit CEO and cofounder Rohit Arora said.

Established in 2007 by siblings Rohit and Ramit Arora, Biz2Credit offers loans for online small and medium scale enterprises, working capital, among other business funding options for startups as well as consumer loans.

The startup had last raised $52 Mn as part of its Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital. According to Crunchbase, investors have pumped in $387 Mn in Biz2Credit so far.

The development comes months after the Westbridge Capital-backed startup reportedly slashed its pre-initial public offering (IPO) fundraise target by more than half to $150-200 Mn from the previous $500 Mn-$1 Bn mark it had set in October.

The ESOP scheme comes at a time when a slew of Indian startups have jumped on the ESOP bandwagon. Food delivery startup Swiggy recently initiated an ESOP monetisation plan under which eligible employees will be able to receive liquidity up to $23 Mn.

Prior to that, SaaS unicorn Amagi also introduced an ESOP scheme and a stock appreciation rights scheme worth more than INR 195 Cr. In addition, crypto exchange CoinSwitch as well as used car marketplace Cars24 also executed various ESOP buyback programmes in 2022.

According to Inc42, Indian startup employees are estimated to have cashed in more than $159 Mn through the monetisation programmes in 2022 so far.