Ola expands ESOP pool and allocates Rs 400 Cr worth fresh stocks to employees

Ride-hailing company, Ola has announced the expansion of its employee stock options (ESOP) pool to Rs 3,000 crore. 

The Bengaluru-based company is also allocating an additional Rs 400 crore worth of stocks to employees in the run-up to its IPO. The allocation rewards Ola’s high impact employees and will lead to long term wealth creation for them.  

Ola, which was one of the early companies to facilitate exit to ESOPs holders in 2018, had expanded its ESOPs pool by adding Rs 326.45 crore or $46 million worth of stocks in February 2020.

Ola will join the likes of more than half a dozen early and growth-stage startups that have expanded their ESOP pool size this year. According to Fintrackr’s research, Paytm, ShareChat, OfBusiness, Unacademy, Kutumb, Bijak and Spinny have cumulatively expanded their pool to the tune of $190-200 million in 2021.

Besides expansion and allocation, companies such as Udaan, ShareChat, Razorpay, CRED and several others had already bought stocks to the tune of $73 million held by employees in the first half of 2021. Moreover, Zerodha and Flipkart are planning for a mega ESOP buyback plan worth $27 million and $80.5 million respectively.