500 Swiggy staffers to turn crorepatis

BENGALURU: As Swiggy prepares for its stock market debut on Wednesday, around 500 employees will join the crorepati club through their stock ownership in the food delivery platform.

Dubbed as one of the largest wealth-creation events in the Indian startup sector, Swiggy’s IPO is poised to create a Rs 8,690-crore windfall through the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) which will benefit 5,000 present and former staffers. Bengaluru-based Swiggy has distributed Rs 500 crore to its employees through ESOPs.

Previously, e-commerce giant Flipkart achieved a comparable liquidation milestone. Following Walmart’s takeover, Flipkart’s workforce participated in a substantial $700-million ESOP buyback scheme in 2023. The programme extended eligibility to approximately 20,000 staff members, offering them a significant financial opportunity through stock compensation.

An email sent to Swiggy didn’t elicit a response till the time of going to press. The development was first reported by news website The Arc on Tuesday.

Swiggy’s shares are set to debut trading on the stock exchanges, after the public issue was subscribed 3.5 times. The Rs 11,327-crore IPO (about $1.4 billion) is the second-largest public issue to hit the exchanges this year after Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,870-crore listing.

The IPO would also be the biggest technology firm public offering since the Paytm IPO in 2019. The company has set a price band of Rs 371-390 apiece for the IPO. It will debut trading on bourses on Wednesday. The company’s public issue was subscribed 3.59 times, primarily driven by interest from institutional investors.

Nasdaq-listed SaaS company Freshworks created significant wealth for its workforce in 2021, with 500 staff members becoming millionaires (crorepatis). The company’s founder Girish Mathrubootham said that amongst these newly minted crorepatis, 70 employees were younger than 30 years.