Cashfree Payments announces ESOP buyback for over 400 employees

Bengaluru-based fintech firm Cashfree Payments has announced an ESOP buyback programme covering over 400 employees, including 175 former employees.

The buyback provides liquidity to current and former team members holding vested stock options. Cashfree did not disclose the size of the buyback or the valuation at which the shares were repurchased.

The move comes a year after Cashfree’s $53 million funding round led by Krafton. Overall, the company has raised $95 million from investors, including Y Combinator, Smilegate Investments, and State Bank of India.

Founded in 2015, Cashfree Payments operates a payments and payouts infrastructure platform for businesses. The company processes more than $80 billion in annual payment volumes and serves over one million merchants, including startups and large internet companies.

Cashfree has also been expanding its cross-border payments business, which currently contributes around 10% of the company’s revenue, following strong growth in transaction volumes over the past year.

According to TheKredible, Cashfree reported operating revenue of Rs 640 crore in FY25, compared with Rs 643 crore in FY24. The company’s net loss widened 14% to Rs 154 crore from Rs 135 crore in the previous fiscal year.

This marks the third major ESOP buyback announcement in 2026. Recently, healthtech firm Innovaccer completed an ESOP buyback worth around $75 million, while SaaS unicorn BrowserStack announced a $125 million ESOP liquidity programme.

For context, ESOP buyback activity in 2025 remained muted at just over $75 million. In comparison, total ESOP buybacks, payouts, and liquidity stood at about $190 million in 2024, significantly lower than $802 million in 2023, $440 million in 2021, and $200 million in 2022.