Higher education startup Sunstone, based in Gurugram, has announced its ESOP (employee stock ownership) buyback, which was orchestrated by WestBridge Capital and involved a total transaction of Rs 18 crore.
This buyback benefited twenty Sunstone employees, both present and past, who had been with the business from its inception. 57% of the vested shares held by the departing employees that qualified for the repurchase programme could be sold.
Ashish Munjal and Piyush Nangru founded Sunstone in 2019 as a higher education service provider to work with academic institutions to help students gain employable skills. The startup collaborates with businesses to create programmes that are suitable for the workplace for both postgraduate and undergraduate students.
Commenting on the recent development Ashish Munjal said.“This first-ever ESOP buyback is one of our ways to acknowledge their hard work and efforts towards building Sunstone. The youngest member of Sunstone who benefited is 26 years of age, and we want all our employees to grow with the organisation,”
“With an employee-first attitude, Sunstone wants to create wealth for its 700+ employees, and we are committed to creating more such opportunities in the future,” added Ashish.
Sunstone raised $35 million in a funding round in August of last year to grow into additional programmes, with a particular emphasis on undergraduate tech programmes. WestBridge Capital, an existing investor, took the lead in that round, and Alteria Capital joined.