Locus commits $4 mn for its ESOP buyback

Locus, which automates supply chain decisions, on Tuesday said that it has designated $4 million for its ESOP buyback, at par with the primary of a recent Series C fundraise. 

Both current and former employees will be able to vest their stock options, as per a statement, which added that this is the second such buyback by the company. 

“We will also have a rolling plan to facilitate new buyback for teammates in the future as well. This will ensure continuous value creation for team members and motivate them to fulfill our shared dream of building the operating system of logistics,” Locus CEO Nishith Rastogi said.  

In June, the logistics management startup raised $50 million in a Series C funding round led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC as it looked to improve its geographical reach and build its research and development team. 

Watch: We will double revenues this year, despite the pandemic -- Nishith Rastogi, Locus  

The company uses deep machine learning and proprietary algorithms to offer smart supply chain solutions to customers across sectors like e-commerce, retail, e-grocery, consumer goods, home services, home deliveries, 3PL, transportation, and B2B distribution, with clients such as Nestle, Mondelez, Unilever, BigBasket, Bluedart, Bukalapak, The Tata Group, among others. 

The company was founded in March 2015 by Rastogi, a BITS Pilani alumnus, and Geet Garg, an IIT- Kharagpur graduate. Both had earlier worked together at Amazon. The duo had earlier co-founded Pinchat, a location-based interaction app. 

Watch: Khaitan partner Shabnam Shaikh decodes the tech sector ESOP rush 

On Monday, industrial goods marketplace Moglix expanded its employee stock option pool (ESOP) further by $10 million to include over 300 employees under the programme. It also announced an ESOP buyback programme worth $3 million for all eligible employees with vested stocks on the heels of its recent fundraise.