19 people who became millionaires by working for Indian tech startups

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19 people who became millionaires by working for Indian tech startups
  • One in three startups that carried out ESOPs buyback became a unicorn (valued over $1 billion) this year, as per a report.
  • According to Longhouse Consulting, Flipkart has the largest ESOP pool of $2.2 billion.
  • Abhinav Sinha, the global chief operating officer and chief product officer at OYO, has shareholdings worth $147 million in the company.

Stock option plans (ESOPs) have been an effective way to push employees to work hard for their company’s success and get rewarded by it too. These employees have already started getting their returns as well.

As per a VC circle analysis, 32 Indian startups have spent close to ₹3,000 crore ($440 million) to buy back stock options from the employees. One in three startups that carried out ESOPs buyback became a unicorn (valued over $1 billion) this year.

That is a lot since four startups became a unicorn every month.

According to Longhouse Consulting, Flipkart has the largest ESOP pool of $2.2 billion. It is followed by Oyo with a $1 billion pool, Zomato $745 million and Paytm with $604 million ESOP pool. The list also features Swiggy, Ola, Byju’s, Nykaa, PolicyBazaar, ShareChat and Upgrad.

These 12 companies have given 35 of their employees stock options worth ₹100 crore ($13 million) so far, the report added. The consultancy firm has shared a list of 20 such employees who reaped the benefits of these ESOPs policies.
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Abhinav Sinha

Abhinav Sinha
Twitter

Global Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer at OYO | Shareholding: ₹1100 crore ($147 million)

Harinder Takhar

Harinder Takhar
Linkedin

Chief Executive Officer at Paytm Labs | Shareholdings: ₹413 crore ($55 million)

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Gunjan Patidar

Gunjan Patidar
Linkedin

Chief Technology Officer at Zomato | Shareholdings: ₹363 crore ($48.5 million)

Madhur Deora

Madhur Deora
Linkedin

President and Group Chief Financial Officer at Paytm | Shareholdings: ₹344 crore ($46 million)

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Srinivasagopalan Ramamurthy

Srinivasagopalan Ramamurthy
Linkedin

Chief Product Officer at Freshworks | Shareholdings: ₹304 crore ($40 milliion)

Reena Chhabra

Reena Chhabra
Linkedin

CEO Private Labels at Nykaa | Shareholdings: ₹249.75 crore ($33 million)

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Nihir Parikh

Nihir Parikh
BCCL

CEO Nykaa Man at Nykaa | Shareholdings: ₹245.11 crore ($32 million)

Sanjay Suri

Sanjay Suri
Nykaa

Chief Technology Officer and Chief Product Officer at Nykaa | Shareholdings: ₹220.64 crore ($29 million)

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Mohit Gupta

Mohit Gupta
LinkedIn

Head New Business at Zomato, elevated as the cofounder of the company in 2020 | Shareholdings: ₹195 crore ($26 million)

Gaurav Gupta

Gaurav Gupta
LinkedIn

Former head of supply at Zomato, later elevated as the cofounder of the company in 2018 | Shareholdings: ₹179 crore ($24 million)

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Surobhi Das

Surobhi Das
Twitter

Management at Zomato | Shareholdings: ₹179 crore ($23 million)

Akriti Chopra

Akriti Chopra
Linkedin

Head People Development at Zomato, later elevated as the cofounder in 2021 | Shareholdings: ₹149 crore ($20 million)

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Vikas Garg

Vikas Garg
Linkedin

Chief Financial Officer at Paytm | Shareholdings: ₹148 crore ($19.8 million)

Abhishek Gupta

Abhishek Gupta
Linkedin

Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at OYO | Shareholdings: ₹130 crore ($17 million)

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Saurabh Tiwari

Saurabh Tiwari
Linkedin

Chief Technology Officer at PolicyBazaar | Shareholdings: ₹120.8 crore ($16 million)

Akshant Goyal

Akshant Goyal
Linkedin

Chief financial officer at Zomato | Shareholdings: ₹114 crore ($15.3 million)

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Maninder Gulati

Maninder Gulati
Linkedin

Global Chief Strategy Officer at OYO | Shareholdings: ₹107 crore ($14.3 million)

Manoj Sharma

Manoj Sharma
Linkedin

Cofounder and Director of Finance at PolicyBazaar | Shareholdings: ₹106 crore ($14 million)

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Ankit Kwatra

Ankit Kwatra
Linkedin

Director and founder at Zomato Feeding India | Shareholding: ₹105 crore ($14 million)