Car Retailing Unicorn Spinny Introduces ESOP For All Employees

Car retailing marketplace Spinny on Tuesday (October 4) said that it has launched an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Under the newly introduced ESOP plan, all employees of Spinny will receive stock options. 

In a statement, the startup said that the ESOP pool has been created to reward employees for their hard work and trust in the startup.

“Since the inception, we have focussed on nurturing a healthy working environment and a robust value system where we work to build a trusted relationship among all team members. Our reward philosophy is centered around modern thinking fuelled by compassion, teamwork, and shared ownership,” Spinny founder and CEO Niraj Singh said. 

Founded in 2015 by Singh, Mohit Gupta and Ramanshu Mahaur, Spinny is a Gurugram-based used car retailing platform. It has 36 car hubs and is operational in 22 Indian cities, including Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad. 

Spinny claims that every car on its platform comes with a 200-point inspection checklist, money-back guarantee and a one-year after-sales warranty. 

The startup said that the announcement of ESOPs is part of several other initiatives taken by it for employee benefits such as Spinny education sponsorship program, flexi basket policy, among others

In December 2021, Spinny bought back ESOPs worth $12 Mn. A host of employees, including entry-level blue-collar workers, benefited from it, the statement said.

Spinny entered the coveted unicorn club around the same time last year after raising $283 Mn in its Series E funding round at a post-money valuation of $1.3 Bn. The round was led by ADQ, Tiger Global, and Avenir Growth. 

So far, Spinny has raised over $530 Mn from investors. Last year, Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar also partnered with Spinny as a strategic investor.

In the financial year 2020-21, Spinny’s losses climbed up by 45% to INR 110 Cr from INR 76 Cr in FY20. Meanwhile, its revenue rose by 124% to INR 39.7 Cr in FY21 as compared to INR 17.7 Cr in FY20. 

The popularity of ESOPs has been on the rise in the Indian startup ecosystem over the last few years. A slew of homegrown startups such as social commerce startup CityMall, SaaS unicorn Amagi and Swiggy have introduced ESOP liquidity programmes.

In September, CityMall initiated an ESOP liquidity program worth about $1.3 Mn for over 50 employees, while Amagi introduced an ESOP plan and a stock appreciation rights scheme of nearly $24 Mn in July. 

According to an Inc42 analysis, Indian startups employees made over $159 Mn via ESOP buyback between January and May 16 2022.