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ShareChat adds fresh ESOPs worth $123 Mn

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
ShareChat adds fresh ESOPs worth $123 Mn
Medial

Mohalla Tech, the parent entity of the vernacular social media platform ShareChat and short video entertainment app Moj, has added fresh employee stock option (ESOP) options for its employees under its existing ESOP plans. The development occurred shortly after the announcement of raising $49 million in debt from existing investors. The board at ShareChat has approved a special resolution to add 260,000 employee stock options to its existing plan, bringing the total ESOP pool to 846,300 options, its regulatory filing accessed through the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. Importantly, every 100 stock options will be converted into one (1) equity share at a later date decided in the agreement. The objective of expanding the ESOP pool is to promote employee ownership as well as to attract, retain, and motivate talents. As per Fintrackr’s estimates, the newly added ESOPs are worth Rs 1,017 crore or $123 million while the value of the total ESOP pool stood at Rs 3,310 crore or $400 million. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, ShareChat has raised around $1.8 billion from investors including Twitter (now X), Alkeon Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Tencent, among others. Despite mopping up close to $2 billion, the company wasn’t able to show substantial revenue as of FY23. Struggle in monetization led to a steep fall in valuation which stood at less than $2 billion in the recent bridge round. The firm was valued at $5 billion during its last fundraise in June 2022. During the last fundraise, it also announced to double the ESOP ownership for all of its current employees. During FY23, ShareChat had to spend nearly Rs 4,000 crore to earn Rs 533 crore in revenue. On a unit level, the firm spent Rs 7.16 to earn a rupee of operating revenue in the last reported fiscal. This was one of the highest expense-to-revenue ratios for a unicorn in FY23.

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Exclusive: ShareChat adds new ESOP options worth $108 Mn

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
Exclusive: ShareChat adds new ESOP options worth $108 Mn
Medial

Exclusive: ShareChat adds new ESOP options worth $108 Mn The board at ShareChat has approved a special resolution to add 5,83,800 employee stock options to its existing plan, bringing the total ESOP pool to 14,30,100 options. Mohalla Tech, the parent entity of the vernacular social media platform ShareChat and short video entertainment app Moj, has added fresh employee stock option (ESOP) options for its employees as part of its existing ESOP plans. The board at ShareChat has approved a special resolution to add 5,83,800 employee stock options to its existing plan, bringing the total ESOP pool to 14,30,100 options, its regulatory filing accessed through the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. Every 100 stock options will be converted into one equity share at a later date decided in the agreement. The expansion of the ESOP pool aims to foster employee ownership while attracting, retaining, and motivating talent, the filing further added. As per Fintrackr’s estimates, the newly added ESOPs are worth Rs 2,283 crore or $271 million while the value of the total ESOP pool stood at Rs 5592 crore or $665 million. Notably, these valuations are based on the company's $2 billion valuation. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, ShareChat has raised around $1.2 billion from investors including Twitter (now X), Alkeon Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Tencent, among others. Despite mopping up more than $1 billion, the company wasn’t able to show substantial revenue as of FY23. Struggle in monetization led to a steep fall in valuation which stood at less than $2 billion in the recent bridge round. The firm was valued at $5 billion during its last fundraise in June 2022. However, the firm has recorded a 30% year-on-year growth to Rs 718 crore during the fiscal year FY24. With the reduction in expenses, the adjusted EBITDA loss for the Tencent-backed firm stood at Rs 793 crore in the same period.

Swiggy adds fresh ESOPs worth $52 Mn

EntrackrEntrackr · 2m ago
Swiggy adds fresh ESOPs worth $52 Mn
Medial

Swiggy adds fresh ESOPs worth $52 Mn Food delivery and quick-commerce platform Swiggy Limited on Monday announced fresh employee stock options under its Employee Stock Option Plan 2024 for eligible employees. The Nomination and Remuneration Committee passed a circular resolution to grant 12,896,462 ESOPs (Employee Stock Options) to its employees, according to a disclosure filed by Swiggy with the National Stock Exchange (NSE). As per the filings, each stock option will be converted into an equity share. Based on Swiggy's current market valuation, the newly granted ESOPs are valued at Rs 443.4 crore, or approximately $52 million. The development comes three months after it allotted 2.61 crore shares under various ESOP schemes. The company’s paid-up equity share capital also increased to Rs 2.26 crore from Rs 2.23 crore. Recently, Swiggy invested Rs 1,000 crore in its subsidiary Scootsy Logistics for expansion. Scootsy Logistics contributed 42% of Swiggy’s overall revenue in the previous quarter. Swiggy has yet to file its financial results for the last quarter of the last fiscal year (Q4 FY25). During the Q3 FY25, the company recorded a 31% year-on-year growth to Rs 3,993 crore, compared to Rs 3049 crore in Q3 FY24. In the pursuit of growth, the losses for Swiggy grew 39.2% to Rs 799 crore in the same period. After today's trading session, Swiggy's stock closed at Rs 343.85 per share, bringing its total market capitalization to Rs 78,620 crore (around $9 billion). Amid recent market volatility, the company also hit an all-time low of Rs 306.95 on April 7.

Google-backed ShareChat raises $49 Mn debt

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Google-backed ShareChat raises $49 Mn debt
Medial

Mohalla Tech, the parent entity of the vernacular social media platform ShareChat and short video entertainment app Moj, has raised around $49 million in debt from existing investors. The company has passed a board resolution to issue 4,895 Series I debentures at an issue price of $10000 each to raise $49 million, regulatory filing with RoC shows. Existing investors including Temasek, Lightspeed, HarbourVest, Moore Strategic, Rimco and Alkeon invested in the debt round. Inc42 reported the development first. The fresh funding comes at a time when ShareChat was looking to raise $50 million in a down round to the tune of $1.5 billion. The firm was valued at $5 billion during its last fundraise in June 2022. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, ShareChat has raised around $1.8 billion from investors including Twitter (now X), Alkeon Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Tencent, among others. ShareChat has been eyeing a large equity round but the company is finding it difficult to rope in new and existing backers. It also put several cost-cutting measures and laid off 700 employees across two phases in 2023. The company’s struggle is largely driven by its inability to monetise from the user base which has low-purchasing power. Even after nine-year of its operations, ShareChat had to spend nearly Rs 4,000 crore in FY23 to earn Rs 533 crore in revenue. On a unit level, it spent Rs 7.16 to earn a rupee of operating revenue in the last fiscal. This is one of the highest expense-to-revenue ratios for a unicorn in FY23. The surge in losses was primarily due to the write-off undertaken by the company for the acquisition of Moj’s competitor MxTakaTak. The company spent heavily ($700 million via cash and stock) to acquire the Times Internet-backed company. While ShareChat has almost no competition after the blanket ban on China-origin apps like Bytedance-owned Helo, its short video app Moj competes with Dailyhunt’s Josh, YouTube Shorts and Instagram.

ShareChat raises $16 Mn additional debt; lays off 5% employees

EntrackrEntrackr · 11m ago
ShareChat raises $16 Mn additional debt; lays off 5% employees
Medial

Mohalla Tech, the parent entity of the vernacular social media platform ShareChat and short video entertainment app Moj, has expanded its debt round to $65 million with $16 million latest infusion from Singapore-based EDBI. In April, ShareChat had raised around $49 million in debt from existing investors including Temasek, Lightspeed, HarbourVest, Moore Strategic, Rimco and Alkeon. The company also saw its valuation nosedived to less than $2 billion from $5 billion during its last fundraise in June 2022. The additional funds will be utilized for advertising company’s tech stack and expand the consumer transactions businesses with investment in newer monetization features, ShareChat said in a press release. A Moneycontrol report also said that ShareChat has let go of 5% of its workforce as a part of its mid-year performance cycle. In 2023, the firm put several cost-cutting measures and sacked 700 employees across two phases. “…some employees are impacted on the basis of performance. This accounts for less than 5% of our workforce. We have a number of open positions and we continue looking for high quality talent across functions,” said a company spokesperson. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, ShareChat has raised around $1.8 billion from investors including Twitter (now X), Alkeon Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Tencent, among others. ShareChat claims that the app is operationally profitable for the past several months, while the Moj app is close to operating break-even. Both apps cater to over 325 million users. While the Ankush Sachdeva-led firm is yet to file its FY24 financials, it spent nearly Rs 4,000 crore in FY23 to earn Rs 533 crore in revenue. Overall, it recorded Rs 3,241 crore loss in FY23. The surge in losses was primarily due to the write-off undertaken by the company for the acquisition of Moj’s competitor MxTakaTak. ShareChat spent nearly $700 million via cash and stock to acquire the Times Internet-backed company.

Whatfix rolls out $58 Mn liquidity event for employees and investors

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Whatfix rolls out $58 Mn liquidity event for employees and investors
Medial

Whatfix, a digital adoption platform (DAP), has introduced a $58 million liquidity program for its employees and investors. This marks the company’s fourth buyback of employee stock options (ESOPs). The Bengaluru-based company stated that eligible current and former employees now have the chance to sell a portion of their vested units at a premium over the earlier Series D valuation. This announcement comes on the heels of the company’s recent $125 million Series E funding round, led by Warburg Pincus, with contributions from existing investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Consequently, the firm’s valuation increased to $900 million from $600 million during Series D fundraise. It has raised over $265 million to date Whatfix introduced its first employee stock ownership plan or ESOP buyback scheme worth $4.3 million in July 2021. The firm did not announce the other two buybacks in the media. Founded by Khadim Batti and Vara Kumar, Whatfix provides in-app guidance and performance support for web applications and software products. Its tools are used by large companies to drive efficiency. The company asserts that it has been awarded five patents by the US Patent Office, with an additional 18 patents in the works. Despite facing macroeconomic challenges over the past two to three years, Whatfix claims to have kept its cash burn low while sustaining growth. The firm has doubled its workforce to over 960 employees, and has opened four new offices in Singapore, Germany, Australia, and India since its Series D funding round. This is the second largest ESOP buyback in 2024. In July, IPO-bound food delivery and quick commerce firm Swiggy announced an ESOPs liquidity programme worth $65 million. In the ongoing calendar year, Urban Company, MyGate, Classplus, Meesho, The Sleep Company, XYXX, Purplle, Dehaaat, Leverage Edu, Pocket FM and Adda247 bought back ESOPs from their employees.

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