Ola expands ESOP pool to ₹3,000 crore, issues stock worth ₹400 crore to employees

• Ola believes this allocation will reward Ola’s ‘high impact’ employees.
  
• The company claims to have seen a strong recovery in its ride hailing business.
  
• Earlier this month, Ola raised $500 million in a pre-IPO round.

Ride hailing giant Ola has expanded its employee stock option plan (ESOP) pool to ₹3,000 crore. It has also allotted an additional ₹400 crore worth stock to employees ahead of its initial public offering (IPO), the company said in a press statement on Wednesday.

ESOPs are employee benefit plans to offer employees a limited number of shares in the company. The company believes that this allocation will reward Ola’s high impact employees and lead to a long-term wealth creation for them.

“Our expanded ESOP programme, along with the fresh stock allocation of ₹400 crore, enables our key talent to participate in the long term wealth creation opportunities generated by their innovations and the impact they create. It will also reinforce their sense of ownership and align their growth with that of the company as we continue to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable mobility” said Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola’s cofounder and chief executive.

Ola, in its press note, also highlighted that the company has seen strong recovery in its ride hailing business over the last several months. The company was severely hit by the first wave of COVID-19, as its revenue declined by 95% in April-May 2020. This led to layoffs in the company, impacting over 1,400 employees in May 2020.

The Bengaluru-based startup got the wheels for its IPO rolling earlier this month, when it raised $500 million from investment titans Temasek and Warburg Pincus in a pre-IPO round. The company’s chief executive Aggarwal also infused an undisclosed amount in the startup in his personal capacity.

The company was founded in 2010 by Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati. It has marked its presence across three continents. It has raised $4 billion to date from marquee investors like SoftBank, Tencent, Steadview Capital, Eternal, Sailing Capital, China Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund and others.

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