The Briefing: SEC Proposes Gig Workers Get Paid In Equity, Unacademy Valued At $2B In New Round, And More

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SEC proposes paying gig workers in equity

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed a pilot program to allow tech companies like Uber and Lyft to pay gig workers a portion of their annual compensation in equity rather than cash.

The agency says the proposal is intended to modernize the system for compensation, in an effort to provide workers an opportunity to share in the growth of the business. Until now, SEC rules have not allowed companies to pay gig workers in equity.

Under the proposed rules, equity pay for gig workers would be capped at 15 percent of annual compensation or $75,000 in three years.

Funding rounds

• India’s Unacademy raises round at $2B valuation: India-based online learning platform Unacademy has reportedly raised a funding round of between $75 million and $100 million at a valuation of $2 billion, with backing from Tiger Global.
• RevLifter secures 3.3 million euros for e-commerce platform: RevLifter raised 3.3 million euros in a Series A round led by Gresham House Ventures and Maven Capital Partners. The London-based company is developing an e-commerce deals personalization platform that is poised for global scale.

Public offerings

• Metromile to go public via SPAC: Metromile, the pay-per-mile auto insurer, announced that it plans to go public on Nasdaq through a merger with INSU Acquisition Corp. II, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

Illustration: Dom Guzman