Indian social media platform ShareChat has revealed that it has augmented its ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) pool by $14 million, bringing the total to $35 million. Additionally, the five-year-old startup disclosed that it has granted 50% additional ESOPs as a bonus to employees who previously held shares in the company.

“The ESOPs have been extended to every employee on its payroll, including administrative staff who were not holding any ESOP earlier,” the company stated.

Rewarding Hard Work

ShareChat has been witnessing robust growth, surpassing 160 million monthly active users recently and launching the video sharing platform Moj shortly after the TikTok ban. The company emphasized that the ESOPs serve as a means to reward employees for their dedication.

“The foundation of our existence has been purely our people, combined with their passion and energy. Our growth since inception has not been without challenges, but we have always managed to come out of these challenges unscathed just on the strength of our people. The additional ESOP is a measure of small appreciation for this commitment, and a recognition of our team’s efforts. The new pool will keep us well placed for rewarding our teams in the future as well,” stated Ankush Sachdeva, CEO & Co-founder of ShareChat.

ESOP Trend Among Startups

ShareChat joins a multitude of Indian startups that have been rewarding ESOPs to employees amid the pandemic. Recently, Zerodha announced that employees would be permitted to sell 5-50% of the 33% of their shares that vest this year from the ESOP pool of ₹200 crore. Founder Nithin Kamath described the disbursement of ESOP money to employees as the “most satisfying day” as an entrepreneur.

Home services startup Urban Company unveiled its third ESOP sale for $5 million. Meanwhile, OYO allocated ESOPs worth ₹130 crore ($18 million) for its furloughed employees.