Under the scheme, WeWork India employees can surrender up to 25% of their vested stock options.
As per the company, the plan was part of its commitment to double down on employee-centric approach
The company had turned profitable in November last year
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Coworking giant WeWork India has announced a new initiative under which employees can surrender up to 25% of their vested stock options.
Touting the coworking giant’s first-ever employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) surrender initiative, WeWork India said that the move was a ‘token of gratitude for the employees’ commitment, efforts and faith in the company.’
“… In the last six years of building WeWork India, we have had many significant milestones and are thankful to our employees for believing in our vision. As an organisation, we have always adopted an employee first approach, and the ESOP surrender is yet another step towards wealth creation and empowering people,” said WeWork India’s chief executive officer (CEO) Karan Virwani.
The company further said that the programme ESOP surrender plan was part of its commitment to double down on employee-centric approaches.
Incorporated in 2017, WeWork India operates as a joint venture between real estate major Embassy Group and WeWork International. Operating on the franchisee model, WeWork India offers flexible workspace solutions for bothe enterprises and startups.
In the past six years, the platform claims to have expanded its presence to 45 locations across six major Indian cities – Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, and Pune. With more than 6.5 Mn sq. ft of signed assets, WeWork India claims to have a member base of more than 62,000 people who use its services.
A majority of its revenue is accrued from enterprises which comprise 70% of its client base with startups, SMEs and freelancers forming the rest.
Curiously, the ESOP liquidation programme comes barely four months after WeWork India bagged a mammoth INR 550 Cr funding from Hong Kong-based private equity firm BPEA Credit. The Indian franchisee of WeWork also raised INR 200 Cr in debt and equity from investors in April of 2021.
Prior to that, the startup also acquired the conferencing and collaboration platform Zoapi in October last year. The company also turned profitable in November last year.
The India business stands as a stark comparison with its franchisee owner WeWork International which has been plagued by criticism of lax corporate governance norms, unsticky business model and concerns over profitability.
While the post-pandemic growth has fueled some numbers, Wework International is yet to churn net profits.
Amid a burgeoning demand for such flexible workspace options, a report estimates that the area occupied by coworking spaces could grow to 75 Mn sq feet, accounting for 10.3 Lakh seats, by 2025.
WeWork India competes with local players such as Table Space, Awfis, Innov8 and iSprout in the country.
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