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Singapore-headquartered equity management firm Qapita announced an all-cash acquisition of Pune-based ESOP Direct. As part of the deal, Qapita will take over ESOP Direct’s operating entities. 

The combined entity will manage over $12 billion in Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOPs) for over 1.3 lakh employees, according to a statement. The deal will also help Qapita consolidate its presence in India with serving over 1,200 companies across India and Southeast Asia across listed and privately held entities. 

Founded in 1999 by Harshu Ghate and Ravi Pandit, ESOP Direct offers end-to-end solutions for Employee Share Plans including conceptualisation, design, documentation, plan administration, employee support, compliance, valuation, and reporting. It claims to have designed over 1000 plans and manages over 500 plans on its proprietary platform, My ESOPs.

“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,” Harshu, Co-founder and Managing Director of ESOP Direct, said in the statement.

Backed by investors including Vulcan Capital, East Ventures, Endiya Partners and others, Qapita will be expanding its engineering team to additional 100 professionals with the acquisition and a presence across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai in India. 

“Complementing knowledge leadership with cutting edge technology will allow us to serve customers through the lifecycle, from incorporation to liquidity events, to IPOs and beyond. 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, CEO and Co-Founder of Qapita in the statement.

According to Qapita’s estimates, the value of private securities in India and SouthEast Asia is likely to exceed $1 to $1.5 trillion in the next few years, requiring digital solutions to manage them.