Alongside employees who hold vested shares in the company, new investors would also be able to access the company’s shares at a lower quantum
Digital-first global private wealth management platform, Kristal.AI, has announced an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) liquidity program worth over US $1 million for all its eligible present and former employees. Employees holding the vested shares of Kristal.AI, have been given an option to participate in this exercise and opt for liquidity against their shares.
The Chiratae Ventures backed company, Kristal.AI, offers comprehensive, no-frills wealth management solutions. Powered by a strong combination of advanced algorithms and investment professionals, Kristal.AI focuses on providing personalized products and unbiased advice to its clients.
Kristal’s move to reward employees come from the tremendous growth it has been witnessing in the past few years. It has crossed a major milestone having accumulated over US$400 million in assets under management in December 2021. The platform quadrupled its AUM since January 2020. In the same period, the user base of Kristal.AI expanded seven-fold, resulting in a 22x growth in its Annual Recurring Revenue.
To facilitate demand for this transaction, the private markets vertical of Kristal.AI, Kristal Private Markets (KPM) provided the opportunity for new investors to participate in the company’s growth story. This enabled investors to access the company’s shares at lower minimums as compared to a conventional fundraise. The overall demand for investing in Kristal.AI is exceeding the total supply of shares.
On the technology side, Kristal.AI has consistently focused on leveraging innovation to enhance transparency and streamline the operational aspects of the investment journey. The order placement process for this exercise is executed on a private blockchain, built, and owned by Kristal.AI. The transaction is recorded on the blockchain, thereby enhance the credibility and security of transactions.
Focused on enabling wealth creation for both existing and former employees, Kristal.AI plans to conduct such liquidity exercises on a yearly basis. This opens a dedicated route to help employees unlock liquidity and optimize their financial assets.
Asheesh Chanda, CEO & Founder, Kristal.AI said, “The company has witnessed unprecedented growth in the last five years. This has been made possible by the sheer dedication and commitment of our employees. With a yearly ESOP liquidity program, we want to help our employees better plan their financial management, reap the benefits of their hard work by wealth creation and benefiting from the growth of the company.”
Kristal.AI also plans to roll out the ESOP Liquidity program as a service to companies who are looking to provide such liquidity options to their employees and early investors. Generally, for liquidating the vested ESOPs in an unlisted company, early investors, employees, or shareholders need to wait for the company to go for a public listing, or for a big investor to come onboard. This usually involves a long waiting period before one could exercise their holdings. With Kristal.AI’s ESOP liquidity service, early phase to late-stage companies would be able to provide easy liquidity solutions to their employees/ shareholders without cluttering their cap table.
Kristal.AI is currently in discussions to raise a series B round of funding. It is registered in Singapore and licensed and operational in Singapore, Hong Kong, India, and the Middle East. It offers avenues for Indian and foreign investors to diversify their investments into global assets.
