Equity management firm Qapita acquires ESOP Direct in all cash-deal

Qapita, a Singapore- and India-based equity management firm, said on Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of ESOP Direct in an all-cash transaction. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Pune-based ESOP Direct provides solutions in equity compensation. Qapita said by acquiring ESOP Direct it will become a market leader in the region. The deal will expand its customer base in India and Southeast Asia to more than 1,200 customers. The combined entity will manage more than $12 billion in Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs).

Qapita said it will expand its product and engineering team to more than 100 professionals as it scales up in Indian start-up hubs and in Southeast Asia’s Singapore and Jakarta.

“This acquisition is an important step to executing our vision of creating one unified platform for all equity matters, in our bid to build rails for the private markets. We look forward to enabling our customers in creating more equity owners in this region and making every one of them count,” said Ravi Ravulaparthi, chief executive officer and co-founder of Qapita.

ESOP Direct’s services include plan conceptualisation, design, documentation, administration, employee support, compliance, valuation, and reporting. In more than two decades, ESOP Direct has designed over 1,000 plans and it manages over 500 plans on its proprietary platform.

“This step is a logical progression of our current business model and in line with the global trends in this domain. Our deep domain expertise and thought leadership will now be leveraged beyond the Indian market. We will continue with our endeavor to structure pathbreaking solutions to ensure the success of Employee Share Plans of our clients,” said Harshu Ghate, co-founder and managing director of ESOP Direct.

Qapita said it expected the value of private securities in this region to exceed $1 trillion with the presence of 200 to 250 unicorns. Creating a digital ledger for management of equity will be the first step toward creating a Qapita marketplace for liquidity as it estimates that more than $250 billion in equity will require liquidity solutions.

Qapita is backed by venture capital investors and financial institutions including Vulcan Capital, East Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Endiya Partners, Citibank, NYCA Capital as well as leading angel investors from both India and Southeast Asia.