Swiggy Initiates ESOP Liquidity Program, To Buyback Shares Worth Up To $23 Mn

Bengaluru-based food delivery and quick commerce startup Swiggy on Thursday (June 30) said it has initiated its planned Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) liquidity program, under which eligible employees will have the option to receive liquidity of up to $23 Mn against their ESOPs.

About 900 employees are set to benefit from the liquidity program this year.

Swiggy also said that the next round of its ESOP liquidity program would be held in July 2023, and about 1,800 employees would benefit from it.

In October last year, the decacorn had announced that it would conduct two ESOP liquidity events in the next two years worth between $35 Mn to $40 Mn at its then valuation of $5.5 Bn.

In an attempt to further improve the ESOP liquidity option for its employees, Swiggy also announced a new program called Build Your Own Dollar (BYOD) on Thursday. 

While ESOPs were only offered to employees above a certain grade or based on their performance earlier, the BYOD program would enable all permanent employees to invest in Swiggy ESOPs, the startup said.

Speaking about the liquidity program, Girish Menon, Head of HR at Swiggy, said, “Rewarding employees by creating wealth opportunities is one of our priorities at Swiggy. We are happy seeing the wealth created for employees from the recent ESOP liquidity event.”

Swiggy entered the decacorn club in January this year after raising $700 Mn in a fresh round of funding led by Invesco and other new investors, including Sumeru Venture, Baron Capital Group, IIFL AMC Late Stage Tech Fund, and Kotak. The round took its valuation to $10 Bn-$11 Bn.

The startup is also looking at going public. According to reports, it has hired JP Morgan and I-Sec for its imminent initial public offering (IPO) worth about $1 Bn.

The trend of startups offering ESOPs to employees has seen an uptick over the last few years in India. Indian startup employees are estimated to have made over $159 Mn through the programmes in 2022 so far.

From crypto unicorn CoinSwitch to used car marketplace Cars24, startups across sectors have initiated ESOP buyback programmes this year.

Recently, Brazil-based startup Velvet, which provides liquidity to startup investors and employees, forayed into the Indian market. It plans to collaborate with Indian startups and help their employees avail stock liquidity solutions as an HR benefit.