Unacademy, India’s latest unicorn in the edtech sector, has revealed its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) buyback program valued at ₹25-30 crore.

Eligibility and Details

According to the company’s statement, all vested ESOPs until December 10, 2020, are eligible for the buyback. Current and former employees have the opportunity to liquidate between 25% to 100% of vested ESOPs based on a specified scheme. Employees who have completed over a year with the company qualify for this program.

This marks the second ESOP buyback initiative by Unacademy, with the first one occurring in September 2019.

Unacademy’s Growth Trajectory

In September 2020, Unacademy attained unicorn status with a valuation of $1.45 billion following a significant funding round from SoftBank. Earlier in February, the company secured funding from Facebook, marking the social media giant’s second direct investment in India. Unacademy’s investors include Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, Blume Ventures, as well as prominent individuals like Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart, and Sujeet Kumar, co-founder of Udaan.

As an official sponsor of the Indian Premier League and one of the beneficiaries of the surge in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, Unacademy boasts over 13 million learners on its platform.

ESOP Trends in Indian Startups

Unacademy’s ESOP buyback announcement adds to the trend observed among Indian startups this year. Urban Company, a home services startup, conducted its third ESOP sale worth $5 million in August. Zerodha, a financial services company, allowed employees to sell a portion of their vested shares from the ESOP pool of ₹200 crore. Sharechat augmented its ESOP pool by $14 million in September, bringing the total to $35 million. Additionally, OYO allocated ESOPs worth ₹130 crore ($18 million) to its furloughed employees.