Wakefit.co, India’s leading D2C brand in the sleep and home-solutions space, announced on Friday that it is all set to offer its employees an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) buyback option. The ESOP buyback will be worth INR 15 crore and will help Wakefit.co’s 15-20 employees in creating substantial wealth.

Ankit Garg, Co-founder & CEO Wakefit

The company did not disclose the names and identities of these 15-20 employees. The Bengaluru-based company will allocate 6-7% of the company’s shares to the ESOP pool. The company further added that it will also add another 50-60 employees into the existing ESOP pool, which will give benefit to early employees of the company.

The allotment of ESOP pool has come on the sidelines of the Series B round, where the company raised a whopping INR 185 Cr at a valuation of INR 1,900 Cr. European investment firm Verlinvest and Sequoia Capital India spearheaded the bumper round.

Speaking about this development, Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Co-founder & Director, Wakefit.co said, “At Wakefit.co, we have always believed that our employees are one of our biggest assets and the best ambassadors of the brand. Promoting and protecting their interests and keeping them motivated is paramount to our success, as we go about achieving our growth targets.”

He further added “During the Covid-19, we ensured that our employees felt secure in their jobs and had the financial and moral support needed to battle the pandemic together. Our workforce has stood together to set us on course to reach INR 450 crores by FY 2021 and we felt it was only fair that we make senior members of our team part of this growth journey. We hope that the ESOPS buyback option will continue to add value to our employees’ lives and keep them motivated, as we venture into a new year poised with exciting challenges.”

Ramalingegowda on the impact of pandemic & 2021 projection

Ramalinegowda shared his thoughts on the impact of COVID 19 on Wakefit’s business…

“The year 2020 has been unexpectedly tumultuous for everyone. Brands that showed resilience, invested in innovation and creatively engaged with their customers, emerged out of the crises successfully.”

“The first two months of the lockdown were undoubtedly hard but with businesses gradually resuming from May onwards, we were able to revive demand successfully and have now exceeded pre-Covid numbers. This year was an inflection point for D2C brands and truly tested the way they continued their customer outreach, seamless deliveries and constant focus on innovation, despite all the fear and uncertainty. In fact, 2020 saw Wakefit.co crossing multiple milestones – from expanding our product portfolios, entering newer markets to ending the year with funding from investors. This is testimony to our vision of being India’s most loved D2C brand in the sleep and home solutions space.”

Commenting on 2021 projection, he said “Wakefit aspire to maintain the same pace in 2021 and will continue to delight our customers. We will be expanding our workforce by 400% by March 2021 and accelerating our efforts to reach every Indian across the country.“