Exclusive: OfBusiness Undertakes INR 100 Cr ESOP Liquidation Programme

IPO-bound OfBusiness has undertaken an ESOP liquidation programme worth INR 100 Cr since the beginning of the year, sources told Inc42. 

The startup’s ESOP liquidation programme has benefitted a little over 100 employees, the sources said. 

While the ESOP liquidation exercise began earlier this year, a majority of liquidation worth over INR 70 Cr took place in the last three months, the sources added. As of now the last tranche of the exercise is being carried out, which will be concluded by the end of the next week. 

The liquidation exercise was part of OfBusiness’ secondary funding deals which have taken place this year. The sources said that HNIs and family offices participated in these deals. Just yesterday, it was reported that Zodius Capital, one of the early backers of OfBusiness, marked its full exit from the B2B marketplace via a secondary share sale of around $100-120 Mn.

In 2021 and 2022, the startup undertook ESOP liquidation worth INR 150 Cr to INR 200 Cr. 

Prior to filing its IPO, the startup is likely to do another secondary round worth $200 Mn – $250 Mn to provide partial exits to its investors such as Z47 (formerly known as Matrix Partners India) and Alpha Wave Global, among others. This transaction is also likely to see another ESOP liquidation exercise for mid- and high-management of the company. 

Founded in 2016 by Asish Mohapatra, Ruchi Kalra, Vasant Sridhar, Bhuvan Gupta, and Nitin Jain, OfBusiness provides raw material procurement and financing solutions to SMEs for entities operating in manufacturing and infrastructure sectors through its platform. It helps customers procure raw materials like metals, chemicals, polymers, agri commodities, petrochemicals and building materials and  infrastructure sectors. 

The startup is gearing to file an IPO offer worth $1 Bn in the second half of 2025. As per the sources, the startup’s IPO will consist of a fresh issue worth $200 Mn while the remaining amount will be an offer-for-sale component. Currently, the startup is merging all of its subsidiaries to streamline its business before IPO. 

OfBusiness has raised over $800 Mn in funding till date and counts marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Softbank Vision Fund, Z47, among others, as its backers.