We began with a simple mission, at Razorpay: to make digital payments accessible to every single business in India. Over the last seven and a half years, we have been working towards building the financial ecosystem for millions of small and medium businesses and looking for ways to simplify their financial lives. Today, we’re glad for the opportunity to be the payment and banking partner of choice for over 8 million businesses.
Razorpay powers 34 of the 42 startups in India that turned unicorn last year. Being able to create an impact such as this is truly humbling. It only pushes us to continue solving for our businesses and strengthening their financial infrastructure, so that they can witness significant unrestricted growth.
The last two years have been tough for all of us. It was a challenging time for us at Razorpay too. But I’m proud of how we stuck together and managed, collectively, to steer the company through a period of enormous growth. We grew by over 300% in the last year alone – thanks to the efforts of our team, the significant digital adoption by small businesses who trusted us, and investors who believed in our vision and purpose.
For Shashank and me, it has been a privilege to work alongside some of the smartest people in the industry – colleagues who have enabled Razorpay’s growth journey through a sense of ownership and responsibility. The journey so far has been extremely enriching and it is only because of our team of awesome Razors that we have managed to achieve so much in the last few years.
With a desire to honour our Razors for all their efforts, I take great joy in announcing Razorpay’s fourth and largest ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) sale, for 650 current and former team members – irrespective of rank – as part of a $75m transaction. The sale is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners along with participation from Moore Strategic Ventures – we’re delighted to add such marquee tech investors as partners in our journey.
These ESOP sales are a way for us to give back to our Razors and a small effort in making a difference in their lives. This is one way for us to show them our gratitude. To date, we have awarded ESOPs to 1940 existing and former employees across levels.
This year, we aim to benefit employees across roles and ranks. Eligible former employees can sell their ESOPs at the same rate as existing employees – we would not have it any other way at Razorpay!
The future, as we imagine it, is one full of boundless possibilities for our partner businesses in a digital universe. We are very excited about building for our customers and their evolving financial needs and ushering in the next stage of digital inclusivity.
That will require perseverance and a team effort – but that is what we pride ourselves on at Razorpay!
