Financial services company ESOPDhan says it is aiming at a Rs 500 crore loan book by 2025, letting many more people buy stock options being given by their companies. 15 workers of two fast-growing software companies with US headquarters in Bangalore and Hyderabad have received loans through ESOPDhan totaling Rs 20 crore so far.

The company, founded by seasoned investors Shravan Shroff and Nitin Agarwal, aims to make it simpler for staff members of fast-growing SaaS businesses to get stock options. "Our years of working with startup teams raised a lot of questions about giving ESOPs to employees as a form of compensation. We saw their problems, developed ESOPDhan as a remedy, and decided to promote its services "Shroff stated.

Employees can experience difficulties subscribing to ESOPs shortly after vesting due to a shortage of finances or uncertainty over the tax impact of the plan. ESOPDhan has been working to help employees with this issue while also promoting a positive employer-employee relationship.

The start-up will collaborate with a select group of late-stage, high-growth businesses that have a sizable consumer base. According to Shroff, it has already secured the funds needed to build it up to Rs 500 crore. A $3.70 billion startup called Harness (harness.io), which assists businesses in accelerating their Cloud activities and has five workers in India, was the company's initial investor.

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 individuals working in unlisted firms with ESOPs as part of their pay plan, ESOPDhan loan is a terrific alternative to exercise their options," said Pooja Singhal, a software expert from the same company who also received the 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.