Employee health benefits platform Plum has officially announced its first Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) buyback programme, valued at ₹15 crore. This is a corporate programme designed specifically to provide opportunities for liquidity to both past and present employees. The buyback is a recognition of the Bengaluru-based firm’s workforce members’ contribution toward the company’s continued growth and achievement of operational milestones, and the idea is to cement long-term ownership in cash and tangible benefits.

Buyback programme and eligibility criteria

The buyback programme has been introduced by a vast network of staff who have supported Plum on its corporate journey. The program will enlist 199 existing and outgoing workers, the company said. 

The participant group consists of 73 people currently employed by the organisation and 126 who have been employed in the past. The event must have occurred after the exchange of liquidation stock options vested on a formally vested basis as of March 31, 2026. This scheme allows qualified investors to sell 25% of the total vested ESOPs as per the guidelines of this scheme.

The individual participant benefits vary in accordance with the allocation of the equity which the individual participant has received, internal projections showed the firm. Around 17 employees are likely to get strong take-home payouts of more than ₹20 lakh each. This programme’s inclusiveness makes it possible to keep liquidity flowing, which is not just restricted to senior managers or loyal staff. 

The buyback is also open to prior interns and early team members who’ve vested stock options from the early days of Plum, stressing a wide-ranging strategy to incentivise everyone during that initial growth period. Current employees will be offered immediate cash settlement for their vested stock options based on the full fair market value, with no deductible exercise costs or discount of any kind for the stock option.

Strategic liquidity and rapid growth

This strategic liquidity event comes right after Plum successfully raised capital in the capital markets. The update follows just under three months after the company completed its Series B round for a $20.5 million investment. The leading venture capitalist firm, Peak XV Partners, led that capital round. 

During the funding round, the existing institutional investor Tanglin Venture Partners decided to invest more capital into the company, while GMO VenturePartners decided to become a first-time investor. The Series B is considered a significant step for the organization, as this marks its second round of funding in almost 5 years.

Plum received a funding of $15.6 million in funding as part of its Series A funding from Tiger Global in early 2021. Completing the recent Series B round successfully gave the company the capital runway and balance sheet it needed to pursue and finalize this type of employee liquidity event, further underlining the firm’s financial strength.

Plum’s decision to initiate this buyback, totalling ₹15 crore, is a part of a recently expanding list of Indian startups that have been keen to provide their employees with a structured avenue for financial liquidity through buyback. Market data compiled reveals that nine startups have been involved in buying ESOPs collectively, totalling more than $220 million. 

This wider industry list includes players from different tech segments like BrowserStack, Innovaccer, CoinDCX, Unacademy, Tractor Junction, Emversity, Cashfree Payments, and Kratikal. The macro-trend is that there is a concerted push in the regional tech ecosystem to prove to employees how the equity in a startup can be monetized.

Plum was founded in 2019 by its co-founders Abhishek Poddar, Saurabh Arora, and Shreyans Mehta. The company has been built around a philosophy of delivering total employee health insurance solutions and custom benefits packages to corporate enterprises. 

Over the years, the startup has grown to serve over 6,000 companies. The health benefits platform cumulatively serves over 600,000 corporate employees in the Indian market via its corporate partnerships, making it one of the most important institutional providers in the B2B healthcare market.

Conclusion

With the buyback in the form of ESOP implemented at a cost of ₹15 crore, Plum is achieving a mature structural transition to its next stage of corporate growth. The enterprise not only understands that current employees, former workers, and early-stage interns should all have the chance to earn extra liquidity, but also actively supports a culture that fosters a pledge of collective wealth-building and multiple-year value.

The recent $20.5 million Series B raise has positioned the brand solidly to handle its continued growth and rapidly powers it to pay those who founded it a stake in its success.