Tide launches ESOP secondary sale program after an oversubscribed Series C round

  

Tide, the UK's leading business financial platform, which began operations in India in 2020, recently facilitated the secondary sale of Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOPs) to investors for its employees in India, Bulgaria, and the UK, following its recent Series C funding, due to oversubscription. Approximately 50-percent of all permanent employees have been allotted ESOPs at various levels across all departments.

Earlier in July 2021, Tide raised more than $100 million in Series C funding, which brought the company’s total funding to date to over $200 million. Tide’s post-money value is now over $650 million, after only four years of operation. The last funding round was led by Apax Digital, the growth equity team of Apax Partners. Existing investors, including Anthemis, Augmentum, Jigsaw, Local Globe / Latitude, SBI, and SpeedInvest also participated in the round.

Liza Haskell, Chief Administrative Officer, Tide, said, “Due to our oversubscribed Series C round, we had enough investor interest to give Tideans (employees) an opportunity to sell a portion of their vested shares to investors.”

These shares were across all departments but varied by levels in each division. Considering the complex nature of the secondary share sale program, Tide held in-depth training to help employees assess the options available to them. Tide also covered the financial advisor and processing fees for those who chose to sell their vested shares.

Commenting on the development, Liza Haskell further emphasized, “At Tide, we believe in the value of working as one team and strive to be an employer of choice. Tide has been offering ESOPs to many employees since inception as this ensures we share in the success of our combined hard work to get us where we are today. Especially during Covid times, it is one of the best ways to keep employees motivated, engaged, and living by the #oneteam value.”

Earlier this year, Tide announced it will create over 1,000 jobs in India in the next five years. These positions will be across a wide variety of roles, including product development, software development, marketing, risk & compliance, and member support.

Tide already has more than 300 highly skilled employees in India with most based in its Hyderabad technology center. Tide is building a robust team in India, creating a pool of talented colleagues that will help build the business, scale operations, and further Tide’s desire to unleash the true potential of Indian SMEs by helping them save time (and money) in the running of their businesses.

About Tide

Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017, London-based Tide is now the leading business financial platform in the UK. Tide helps SMEs save time (and money) in the running of their businesses by not only offering business accounts and related banking services, but also a comprehensive set of highly usable administrative solutions. Tide has over 370,000 SME members in the UK (over 6% market share).

Tide has been funded by Apax Digital, Anthemis, Augmentum, Creandum, Goodwater, Jigsaw, Latitude, LocalGlobe, Passion Capital, SpeedInvest and The SBI Group. It employs 700+ professionals worldwide, has recently been awarded the UK Fintech Awards' ‘Banking Tech of the Year’ and is among the Sunday Times Fast Track Disruptors to Watch. Tide has a long-term ambition to be the leading business financial platform globally.

Tide selected India as its first international market in 2020. With over 300 highly skilled employees in India, most based in its Hyderabad technology centre, Tide is presently ramping up operations for a full-fledged launch in India early next year.