Google-Backed Adda247 Grants ESOPs Worth INR 150 Cr To Employees

Government job preparation startup Adda247 on Monday (December 26) said that it has so far granted stock options worth INR 150 Cr to its employees under its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The ESOP pool has an annual vesting period of four years.

Adda247 stated that it first initiated ESOP policy in 2016 and has so far liquidated stock options for about 10% of its workforce. This year, it also expanded the ESOP pool to add more employees to the plan. 

The development comes a few months after Adda247 secured $35 Mn in a funding round led by WestBridge Capital. The round saw participation from Google, Info Edge and Asha Impact.

Set up in 2016 by Anil Nagar and Saurabh Bansal, the edtech startup helps students prepare for government job entrance exams. It offers online coaching to students residing in Tier-2 cities and beyond. 

Adda247 offers coaching in vernacular languages as well including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Malayalam and Bhojpuri. 

“Through the ESOP policy, we want employees to grow with the organisation and also reap monetary benefits for themselves. Eventually, we want to generate wealth for all our employees with the dream to create at least a hundred crorepatis from our employees prior to our IPO,” said Anil Nagar, founder and CEO, Adda247.

The startup claims to offer services to more than 80 Mn students in 12 vernacular languages. It further asserted that 22 Mn monthly active users and 2 Mn paid users are using the platform currently.

In September, it bagged INR 80 Cr from Info Edge thereby, increasing the stake to about 23% in the startup.

“Our employees were excited when we first announced the ESOP policy back in 2016 and even when we increased the pool size this year to include more employees. We as an organization are committed to building a solid long-term business for our employees as they are our biggest asset,” said, Saurabh Bansal, cofounder and COO, Adda247.

In the financial year 2022 (FY22), Adda247 posted a turnover of INR 64 Cr as against INR 46.7 Cr recorded in FY21.

Talking about India’s edtech space, the sector is likely to breach the $10.4 Bn mark by 2025. In the post-pandemic phase, the edtech industry has seen a major setback as startups focusing on K-12 students and college graduates have seen their user base shrinking owing to the opening of academic institutions.

As a result, edtech giants such as BYJU’S, Vedantu and Unacademy, among others, lost their sheen and handed pink slips to a chunk of employees. According to an Inc42 report, more than 7,800 employees have been sacked by edtech startups so far this year. Further, a total of five startups have closed down their shutters permanently this year.