Fintech Startup Esopdhan Aims Rs 500 Cr Loan Book for ESOP Buys

Fintech startup ESOPDhan aims Rs 500 crore loan book for ESOP buys 2025, to assist many people in purchasing stock options that their employers are offering.

ESOPDhan has so far loaned Rs 20 crore to 15 Bengaluru and Hyderabad-based staff members of two fast-growing US IT companies.

Shravan Shroff and Nitin Agarwal, seasoned investors, founded the company to make it simpler for staff members of fast-growing SaaS firms to get stock options.

“Our experience with startup teams over the years raised many questions about employees receiving ESOPs,” the author writes. We saw their problems, developed ESOPDhan as a remedy and made the decision to make its offerings public,Shroff said.

Because of a shortage of finances or uncertainty regarding the tax treatment of the ESOPs, employees occasionally cannot subscribe to them soon after vesting.

Working with identified late-stage, high-growth businesses that have a burgeoning consumer base is the startup’s goal. According to Shroff, the money needed to expand it up to Rs 500 crore has already been secured.

The startup began with ESOPDhan sponsoring five employees in India of Harness (harness.io), a $3.70 billion valuation company that aids businesses in accelerating their Cloud ambitions and quickening the release of software improvements.

The following group of 10 employees from Phenom, a $1.37 billion-valued US-based AI-powered HR-tech platform were supported through ESOPDhan.

According to Vikas Naiyar, a former employee of Harness, “ESOPDhan team discussed tax benefits of executing my vested ESOPs early while providing me with finances to exercise my stock options.”

For people working in unlisted firms having ESOPs as part of their pay plan, Pooja Singhal, a software professional from the same company who also took out the ESOPDhan loan, said: “An excellent alternative to using their rights is an ESOPDhan loan”.

The value of the vested ESOPs held by Indian Unicorn employees is estimated by the industry to be greater over $10 billion.

In the upcoming years, it is anticipated that the value of vested ESOPS will increase quickly.