Employee stock option plans (ESOPs) have proven to be an excellent approach to motivate employees to work hard for the success of their firm while also being paid for it. Thus, employees have also begun to receive their returns. Many employees became millionaires by working for Indian tech startups.
According to a VC circle research, 32 Indian businesses have spent about 3,000 crores ($440 million) to buy back employee stock options. This year, one out of every three ESOP buyout companies became a unicorn (a company worth more than $1 billion).
That’s a lot, especially considering four startups become unicorns per month.
Flipkart has the highest ESOP pool of $2.2 billion, according to Longhouse Consulting. It is followed by OYO, which has a $1 billion ESOP pool, Zomato, which has a $745 million ESOP pool, and Paytm, which has a $604 million ESOP pool.
Swiggy, Ola, Byju’s, Nykaa, PolicyBazaar, ShareChat, and Upgrad are also on the list.
According to the research, these 12 organizations have granted 35 of their employees stock options worth a total of Rs 100 crore ($13 million). A list of 20 such employees who benefited from the ESOP policies has been shared by the consulting firm.
Abhinav Sinha
Abhinav Sinha is the OYO’s Global Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer | He owns 1100 crore ($147 million) in the company.
Harinder Takhar
Harinder Takhar who is Paytm Labs’ Chief Executive Officer has shareholdings worth 413 crores ($55 million).
Gunjan Patidar
Zomato’s Chief Technology Officer-Gunjan Patidar has shareholdings of 363 crores ($48.5 million).
Madhur Deora
Madhur Deora is Paytm’s President and Group Chief Financial Officer | 344 crores ($46 million) in shareholdings.
Prakash Ramamurthy
Freshworks’ Chief Product Officer-Prakash Ramamurthy owns shareholdings worth 304 crores ($40 million).