Urban Company grants stocks to about 500 service partners

Urban Company awarded company stocks worth INR 5.2 Cr. to about 500 partners across India, under the Partner Stock Option Plan (PSOP). Under this plan, the company will award stocks worth INR 150 Cr. to thousands of service partners over time. Earlier this year, the company set up an evergreen trust to manage the PSOP program, and award them at near zero cost to service partners. The company has already got board approval for the first tranche of INR 75 Cr. worth of stocks, to be disbursed over the next few years. Seven partners, who were part of the first cohort of stock recipients in March, received it again for the second time, due to their consistent high performance.

Urban Company is working towards creating a diverse and inclusive partner ecosystem and increasing women representation. To that effect, 30% of the PSOP recipients are female partners from the Beauty & Wellness vertical. Further, among the cities, Bangalore had the most number of partner shareholders at 26%, followed by Delhi NCR (22%), Mumbai and Pune (together accounting for 16%) and Hyderabad (15%).

Commenting on the PSOP program, Abhiraj Bhal, co-founder and CEO, Urban Company said: "Earlier this year, we decided to create a fund of INR 150 Cr. to make partners become shareholders of Urban Company. Today we are happy to announce our second cohort of about 500 partners who have been awarded with shares. This is just the start and we are hopeful that in the coming years, the numbers will rise to thousands.”

Urban Company has established a fair and meritocratic process for awarding these shares, considering the performance of service partners and their longevity on the platform. The entire process is rule-based and transparent, with an advisory panel providing complete guidance.

Urban Company has always focused on the development and well-being of its partners, centred on four key pillars: Enhanced Income, Safety Net, Training & Upskilling, and Wealth Creation. According to the recently released H1 2022 UC Earnings Index, the top 20% UC partners earned an average of about INR 38,000 per month, net of commissions, fees, and other costs. UC Partners who completed >30 orders in a month earned over INR 31,000 per month. Apart from this, all Urban Company partners have health insurance cover of INR 1 lac, with up to 12 free medical consultations per year for self, along with the existing benefits of the Group Life and Accidental Insurance cover of INR 6 lacs. The best-performing partners (approx. 5000 service partners) also enjoy a family health insurance cover INR 2 lacs, which covers their spouse and two kids.