Supply Chain Startup Bizongo Completes $3.7 Mn ESOP Buyback

B2B supply chain enablement startup, Bizongo has completed its maiden Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) monetisation program.

As part of the buyback program, as much as $3.7 Mn worth of ESOP was liquidated. Of the total 102 current and former employees eligible for the scheme, 70% opted for the buyback.

The startup had kept the total ESOP pool at $4.8 Mn. The ESOPs were offered to employees depending on different stages of their tenure.

Commenting on the same, Bizongo cofounder and CTO, Ankit Tomar, said, “Our employees are an invaluable asset and partners, who have helped us achieve newer heights and remain profitable even during the pandemic. Today, we are a market leader in the customised goods category and this ESOP repurchase is our little way of sharing our success and growth with all who have been a part of Bizongo’s journey so far.”

Bizongo was founded in 2015 by IIT graduates Aniket Deb, Sachin Agrawal, and Ankit Tomar. The startup focuses on the unorganised B2B customised goods segment. It provides boxes, containers and bags for industries such as food and hospitality, consumer goods and retail. 

The startup through its two platforms – Procure Live and Partner Hub – has more than 300 enterprise customers and a base of over 3,000 partner factories. 

Bizongo through its digital platforms offers a slew of services to its customers including digital vendor management, supply chain automation and supply chain financing.

It has leveraged its partnerships with over 15 financial institutions in the supply chain financing vertical, processing more than INR 1,200 Cr in working capital so far. This the startup claims has helped it register an 8X growth in the last one year.

It has warehouses in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi and serves big-ticket clients including BigBasket, Nykaa, Swiggy, Delhivery, Teabox and Tata Cliq.

This comes barely a month after the startup raised $110 Mn in its Series D round led by Tiger Global, valuing Bizongo at $600 Mn.

Bizongo had last posted a loss of INR 134.56 Cr in FY20, a 118% rise from INR 61.6 Cr it posted in FY19. Meanwhile, its total operating revenue rose to INR 247.52 Cr in FY20 as compared to INR 119.96 Cr, a 106% rise.

The startup competes against Vistaprints and Bambrew in the packaging segment. In the vendor management segment, it competes against Sirion Labs, Zoho, and Freshworks.

The ESOP announcement comes on the heels of a slew of companies announcing such monetisation programs. Earlier today, fintech startup slice said that it had completed its first ESOP buyback program worth INR 65 Cr. 

Barely days ago, Supam Maheswari-led kids marketplace FirstCry created a $100 Mn ESOP pool for its employees. Fintech startup CRED too had expanded its ESOP pool to nearly $500 Mn in November last year. This was followed by SaaS startup, FarEye, announcing a buyback programme worth $1.22 Mn for its employees in January of 2022.

In total, the outlook for the startup looks great and such programs help create a sense of belonging for the employees. Indian startups are on a roll and ESOPs are a glaring example of this.