GlobalBees new 🦄, Ola 🔌 Bharat Petroleum, Flipkart's Rs 17000 Crs ESOP💸

GlobalBees enters Unicorn Club, Ola to set up public chargers, Flipkart has created Esop pool of Rs 17000 Crs, Funding Deals & more.

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Dec 29, 2021

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GlobalBees enters Unicorn Club with $111Mn Funding🦄

Thrasio-style venture GlobalBees is the new entrant to the unicorn club. GlobalBees has raised over $110 million led by Premji Invest with participation from new investor, Steadview Capital and existing investors, SoftBank, FirstCry among others. Post the investment, GlobalBees said its valuation has risen to $1.1 billion.

The company plans to invest in 100+ brands across verticals over the next three years, including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), sports, home organisation, and lifestyle.

GlobalBees enters unicorn club with $146 million funding led by SoftBank, FirstCry

GlobalBees has, with the fresh capital infusion, has become the second unicorn among a group of Thrasio-style ventures. Recently, Mensa Brands, founded by former Myntra chief executive Ananth Narayanan entered the unicorn club of startups that are privately held with a valuation of $1 billion or more.

Startups such as GlobalBees invest in promising sellers on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra, and work along with their founders to sell better.

Ola Electric in talks with partners to set up public chargers🔌

Amid delays in the launch of its electric two-wheeler, Ola Electric is looking to build infrastructure for charging batteries.

The Bengaluru-based mobility firm is in advanced talks to tie-up with Bharat Petroleum to set up its fast chargers- hyperchargers-- at petrol pumps across the country.

Bhavish Aggarwal @bhash

Hypercharger roll out has begun across cities. At key BPCL pumps as well as residential complexes. 4000+ points up through next year. We’re installing across India and will make them operational in 6-8 weeks. Will be free for use till end June 22 for all customers.

The company is also in talks with multiple builders and real estate developers to set up charging points at their premises.

The company would set up 5,000 charging points across 100 cities in the first year, it said, claiming that it was more than double the existing charging infrastructure in the country.

The Ola Hypercharger will also be the fastest two-wheeler charging network, it said. Ola S1s can be charged 50% in 18 minutes for a 75-km range, the company claimed.

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Flipkart tops Indian tech Esops list with Rs 17,000 crore pool💸

Walmart-owned ecommerce platform Flipkart has created an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Esop) pool of Rs 17,000 crore, propelling it to the top among Indian technology firms that have allocated stock options to staff.

Consumer tech firms Zomato and Nykaa generated a windfall for investors and employees after they both listed on Indian exchanges earlier this year. They have had the largest Esop pools in the industry.

It has been a record year for Esops across Indian startups, as more companies conducted buyback programs, enriching employees. Nearly 40 Indian startups bought back Esops worth Rs 3,200 crore between July 2020 and November this year.

Despite the possibility of wealth creation that larger Esop pools present, several experts said that issues around taxation at the time of exercising the options, infrequent liquidity programs, and long-drawn vesting schedules are some of the major challenges that employees face.

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