Start-up eyes Rs 500 cr loan book for ESOP buys

BENGALURU: Financial services start-up ESOPDhan on Sunday said it is aiming at a Rs 500 crore loan book by 2025, helping many more people buy stock options being offered by their employers.

ESOPDhan has lent Rs 20 crore to 15 Bengaluru and Hyderabad-based employees of two US-based high growth tech companies.

Set up by investors Shravan Shroff and Nitin Agarwal, the firm seeks to ease the acquisition of stock options by employees of high-growth SaaS start-ups.

“Our experience with start-up teams over the years threw up many concerns of employees rewarded with ESOPs,” said Shroff.

At times, employees are unable to subscribe to ESOPs soon after vesting because of lack of funds or lack of clarity on tax treatment of the same.

The start-up will work with identified late-stage high growth companies with a growing customer base. It has already tied up its fund requirement to scale it to Rs 500 crore, Shroff said.