Gig Workers Startup Awign Introduces INR 4 Cr ESOP Buyback Plan

Gig workers startup Awign has introduced an INR 4 Cr employee stock option plan (ESOP) buyback programme for its existing and former employees. 

The development comes three months after Awign secured $15 Mn in its Series B funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments and Amicus Capital Partners.

It is prudent to note that introducing ESOP plans or liquidating vested ESOPs have become common practice in the Indian startup ecosystem primarily to attract talent and retain the existing workforce. 

Founded in 2016 by IIT Ropar graduates Annanya Sarthak, Gurpreet Singh, and Praveen Kumar Sah, Awign helps companies perform intricate operations such as auditing, assessments, proctoring, last-mile delivery, and business development, among others through gig workers.

Awign also manages the entire job cycle of gig workers right from shortlisting for jobs to training to completing tasks, according to its LinkedIn page.

“With this ESOP buyback program, we take another step to reward our employees, and build shared ownership and value for them. We are committed to leverage ESOPs as an instrumental tool for driving wealth creation for our employees,” said Annanya Sarthak, cofounder and CEO at Awign.

Awign claims to have a presence in 400 cities of India and also aims to double its headcount by the end of 2023. It also asserts that it has raised over $22.3 Mn to date and further clocked a 10X growth in revenue in the past year.

The startup said that it runs a network of more than 1 Mn gig workers and over 100 large enterprises operating across sectors such as media and entertainment, AI/ML data operations, automotive, electrical, construction and FMCD, among others.

In recent times, homegrown startups such as car retailing platform Spinny, agritech startup Ninjacart, neobanking startup Niyo and social commerce startup CityMall, among others have either rolled out ESOP programmes or bought back ESOPs. 

Earlier in October, beauty ecommerce platform Nykaa’s board approved the formulation of ESOP 2022 along with a stock unit plan to issue up to 16 Lakh stock options to eligible employees of the company.

According to an Inc42 analysis, between January and mid-May 2022, Indian startups bought back $159 Mn worth ESOPs from their employees.

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