Sunstone rolls out its first ESOP buyback worth Rs 18 Cr
- ByStartupStory | January 31, 2023

The Gurugram-based higher education start-up Sunstone Eduversity reported that WestBridge Capital led an ESOP (employee stock ownership) repurchase with a total transaction value of Rs 18 crore.
Twenty Sunstone employees—both present and past—who have worked for the business from its inception benefited from this buyback. 57% of the vested shares that the departing employees held were eligible for sale under this buyback policy.
Ashish Munjal, Co-founder and CEO of Sunstone, said, “This first-ever ESOP buyback is one of our ways to acknowledge their hard work and efforts towards building Sunstone. The youngest member of Sunstone who benefited is 26 years of age, and we want all our employees to grow with the organization.”

Ashish added, “With an employee-first attitude, Sunstone wants to create wealth for its 700+ employees, and we are committed to creating more such opportunities in the future.”
In October 2021, Sunstone raised $28 million in Series B funding. Sunstone was founded in 2019 by Ashish Munjal and Piyush Nangru. It also received $35 million in Series C funding in August 2022 led by Westbridge Capital.
The business, which is present in 35 cities and 40 universities, is developing the necessary infrastructure to grow into 100 cities across India.
In 2021, Indian entrepreneurs purchased ESOPs worth more than $400 million, according to a report on startups by NASSCOM and consulting firm Zinnov.