PhonePe Announces ESOP Buyback Worth INR 135 Crore for All Employees

 PhonePe, digital payments platform announced a buyback of employee stock options (ESOPs) worth ~INR 135 crore.

The Buyback offer follows a three tier model, based on seniority:

• The company’s founders will not be participating in the buyback.
• The company’s top leadership can sell upto 10% of their vested stock.
• All other current employees can sell upto  25% of their vested stock.

Commenting on the development, Manmeet Sandhu, Head of HR, PhonePe said, “Last December, we had launched a new PhonePe ESOPs plan and issued ESOPs to 100% of our employees across levels, functions and grades. All these employees will complete the one year cliff of their stock vesting next month, so it’s a great time to offer some liquidity to everyone. Almost 75% of our current workforce is eligible to participate in the current buyback offer, and for most it’s the first time in their careers that they’ve either owned ESOPs or had a chance to liquidate them.”

In December last year, PhonePe launched its ESOPs program where it allotted ESOPs to all its 2,200 employees starting at a minimum of INR 3.5 lakhs, cumulatively worth INR 1500 crores.