WinZO concludes third round of ESOP liquidation for 25% of workforce

Online gaming start-up's announcement comes at a time few start-ups are making such payouts

WinZO, an online gaming start-up announced  on Thursday its third round of Employee Stock Ownership Plan liquidation for employees to partially liquidate their vested ESOPs, the total quantum of which it did not disclose.

This liquidation exercise, which is funded by the company’s existing cash reserves, is for employees who have served a minimum of two years with WinZO. It benefits around 25 per cent of the company’s workforce, including all early-team members.

“As any pure technology company should be, we consider our team and our people the biggest asset of WinZO. In light of the past and what the future holds, we have conducted our third ESOP liquidation event as an expression to share the value that the team has built so far, and buckle up to go for much bigger goals,” said Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founders of WinZO, in a joint statement.

WinZO’s announcement comes at a time when ESOP payouts and buybacks have plummeted due to a funding slowdown in the Indian start-up ecosystem.

Employee earnings from ESOPs have come down from the highs of approximately $400 million in 2021, to less than $100 million this year, according to equity management platform Qapita. More than 40 companies announced ESOP buyback programmes in 2022, but only 9 have done so this year until May.

WinZO executed its first and second ESOP liquidation programs for its current and former teams in 2021, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

WinZO, which was founded in 2018, has more than 130 million registered users and it facilitates more than four billion monthly micro-transactions.

The company has secured cumulative funding of $100 million until now. It has investments from the likes of California-based Griffin Gaming Partners, gaming funds like Maker's Fund and Courtside Ventures, and India-based VC Kalaari Capital.