HRtech

Darwinbox Completes ₹86 Cr ESOP Buyback, Benefits 350+ Employees Globally

• ByStartupStory     |    June 24, 2025

HR tech unicorn Darwinbox has successfully completed an ₹86 crore (~$9.7 million) ESOP buyback, benefitting over 350 employees across its offices in India, North America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. This marks the third ESOP buyback by the company in the last four years, reinforcing its commitment to rewarding team members and fostering a culture of shared ownership.

The development follows Darwinbox’s $140 million funding round led by global investors Partners Group and KKR earlier this year. The company said the buyback is a reflection of its belief in building sustainable employee wealth alongside scaling operations.

“Even as we invest deeply in innovation and global growth, we remain equally committed to creating meaningful outcomes for our people. This buyback, like the ones before, reflects our belief in sharing success with our people and building a culture of ownership,” said Jayant Paleti, Co-founder of Darwinbox.

Founded in 2015 by Jayant Paleti, Chaitanya Peddi, and Rohit Chennamaneni, Darwinbox provides a cloud-based HR management platform that leverages AI and ML to streamline processes such as recruitment, onboarding, payroll, travel, and analytics. The platform is used by 1,000+ companies across 130 countries, with marquee clients including Starbucks, McDonald’s, AXA, Cigna, WeWork, Airtel, and Vedanta.

The company’s strong growth momentum has been bolstered by international expansion and continued investment in R&D. Darwinbox recorded a 58% YoY jump in revenue to ₹393 crore in FY24, underlining its position as one of the fastest-scaling SaaS companies in Asia.

The ESOP buyback trend continues to make waves in the Indian startup ecosystem. Following closely behind Darwinbox, Even Healthcare recently announced its first-ever buyback worth $500,000, while Dezerv completed a ₹46 crore buyback. According to Inc42 data, 23 startups executed ESOP buybacks in 2024, distributing over ₹1,448 crore in employee wealth—though this represented a 73% drop compared to 2023, which was led largely by Flipkart’s $700 million buyback.

As Darwinbox continues its upward trajectory, this latest ESOP buyback affirms its people-first philosophy and offers a positive signal to employees across India’s booming SaaS and HR tech sector.

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