IPO-bound Swiggy announces 5th ESOP worth $65 mn

Food tech major Swiggy, which filed its initial public offering (IPO) in April this year, has announced its fifth employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) liquidity programme today on its tenth anniversary. An ESOP is an employee benefit plan that enables employees to own part or all of the company they work for. 

As part of this employee-friendly initiative, Swiggy employees across levels and functions will have the option to receive liquidity of up to $65 million (or ₹542.87 crore) for their ESOPs, the online food ordering and delivery platform says in a release. The company, however, did not disclose how many employees will be offered ESOPs.

Swiggy says this is the fifth liquidity event since 2018, and the third consecutive event after July 2022 and 2023. The company claimed that it has cumulatively enabled over ₹1,000 crore of ESOPs liquidity over the five events, benefitting over 3,200 employees, the release notes.

“Rewarding employees by unlocking wealth-creation opportunities as Swiggy grows has always been a key priority for us,” says Girish Menon, Head of HR at Swiggy.

"Employees owning shares of their company creates alignment of incentives and a sharp focus on collaborative excellence, which is a virtuous cycle that we believe in and espouse. As we approach the milestone of a decade of consumer love for Swiggy, the latest ESOP event is an acknowledgement of our employees' contributions, and our commitment to sharing Swiggy’s success and growth with them," Menon adds.

Founded in 2014, Swiggy is   an Indian online food ordering and delivery platform operates in more than 600 Indian cities in collaboration with nearly 2 lakh restaurants. Swiggy Instamart, its quick commerce platform operating in 25+ cities, delivers groceries and other essentials across 20+ categories in 10 minutes.

Earlier in April this year, Swiggy received its shareholders' approval to launch its $1.25 billion IPO. The Bengaluru-based decacorn, in its regulatory filing with the finance ministry's Registrar of Companies, said it passed a special resolution to raise ₹3,750 crore by way of a fresh issue of equity shares and up to ₹6,664 crore via an offer for sale (OFS) by existing shareholders.

The offer also includes a green shoe option, if required, and the board may also invite existing shareholders to take part in the offer. Further, the company may also raise about ₹750 crore via a pre-placement offer from anchor investors.

Swiggy is among a series of new-age companies including Ola Electric, Awfis, and Firstcry planning to raise funds via IPO this year.

The company’s revenue from operations for the financial year 2022-23 stood at ₹8,264.6 crore, up from ₹5,704.9 crore in the previous fiscal year. The net loss surged to ₹4,179 crore in 2022-23 against ₹3,627 crore in 2021-22.