Indian fintech unicorn launches $75m ESOP buyback scheme

India-based fintech unicorn Razorpay has rolled out the fourth round of its buyback program of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) for its 650 existing and former employees.

The Razorpay team / Image credit: Razorpay

The US$75 million buyback program will be led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Moore Strategic Ventures, which will join Razorpay’s cap table.

Razorpay said the new round will benefit current and former employees who hold the company’s vested stocks. Employees, including sales representatives, software engineers, product managers, customer experience agents, and administrative staff, can sell up to 30% of their vested ESOP shares.

The fintech firm added that the fourth ESOP buyback program was over seven times larger than that conducted a year ago.

Razorpay held its first ESOP sale for 140 employees in November 2018, its second round in November 2019 for 400 staff members, and its third round for 750 employees in March 2021. To date, the company has awarded ESOPs to 1,940 existing and former employees.

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Razorpay plans to achieve US$90 billion in total payment value by the end of 2022, Razorpay CEO and co-founder Harshil Mathur said in a statement. The fintech firm also plans to go from having 8 million merchants to 10 million merchants on its platform by the end of the year.

The buyback scheme comes months after the fintech firm raised US$375 million in a series F funding round. The round, which valued the firm at US$7.5 billion, saw investments from the likes of Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital, and TCV.

This year, Razorpay has also forayed into markets outside India. In February, it acquired a Malaysian fintech firm Curlec, which builds solutions for recurring payments for businesses. To date, Razorpay has acquired five companies, with IZealiant being its most recent buy.