Home Interiors Startup HomeLane Initiates INR 27 Cr ESOP Buyback

SUMMARY

HomeLane offers personalised and tech-enabled interior design solutions for customers looking to design/redesign the interior of their homes

Employees liquidated less than 50% of their vested ESOPs that were eligible

In a bid to tackle attrition and attract talent, Indian startups have been using ESOP buyback strategy

Home interiors startup HomeLane has announced an INR 27 Cr ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) buyback program, marking its second such program according to the startup.

Last year, it had raised $50 Mn (INR 371 Cr) in a Series E funding round led by IIFL AMC’s late-stage tech fund, OIJIF II (Oman India Joint Investment Fund) and existing investor Stride Ventures.

Both active and former employees of HomeLane with vested ESOPs were offered liquidity. Former employees could liquidate up to 100% of their equity while active employees were given the option to liquidate up to 35% of theirs.

Active employees liquidated less than 50% of their ESOPs that were eligible for liquidation. According to the startup, many of their employees invested their gains in homes, cars, retirement funds and also donated to causes they believe in.

“We are deeply humbled by the response of our team, with a majority of them deciding to stay vested in the company through only partial liquidation of their stock options. Our team’s conviction and relentless efforts have powered HomeLane’s exponential growth. We facilitated the ESOP buyback to acknowledge their enduring contribution,” said Srikanth Iyer, cofounder of HomeLane.

Founded in 2014 by Rama Harinath, Srikanth Iyer, and Vivek Parasuram. HomeLane offers personalised and tech-enabled interior design solutions for customers looking to design/redesign the interior of their homes. It claims to have served over 20,000 customers.

“We will continue to invest in high-quality talent across business, product and technology, design and operations, across the country. Despite the temporary resurgence of COVID-19, we are confident that the need for branded home interiors will continue to grow rapidly,” said Tanuj Choudhry, cofounder of HomeLane.

In a bid to tackle attrition and attract talent, Indian startups have kicked off an ESOP buyback phenomenon. An increasing number of them are using ESOPs as a tool for employee retention as well as employee wealth creation.

Last week, Indian agritech startup Ninjacart had rolled out an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) worth more than INR 100 Cr, according to a statement by the startup.