Milestone · Healthcare & Life Sciences

Plum launches ₹15 Cr ESOP buyback programme

What they do

Plum Insurance is an employee health benefits platform for businesses

It announced its first ESOP buyback worth ₹15 Cr, covering 199 employees

The buyback includes former interns and early team members from formative years

Plum Insurance announced its first ESOP buyback programme worth ₹15 Cr.
199 employees are eligible: 73 current and 126 former employees who were vested as of 31 March 2026.
Eligible employees can sell up to 25% of their vested ESOPs.
17 employees are expected to get payouts above ₹20 Lakh each.
The buyback includes former interns and early team members from the company's formative years.
Current employees get full fair market value with no exercise cost or discount.

Six startups announced ESOP buybacks in 2026 before Plum, including Innovaccer, Emversity, CoinDCX, Atlys, Unacademy, and Tractor Junction.
Nine startups collectively bought back ESOPs worth over $220 Mn in 2026 as of the article date.
Other startups with ESOP buybacks in 2026 include BrowserStack, Cashfree Payments, and Kratikal.

Plum Insurance is an employee health benefits platform for businesses.
It serves over 6,000 organisations.
It covers over 6 Lakh (600,000) employees.
Clients include Zomato, Swiggy, smallcase, and WeWork India.
The company makes money by providing health insurance and wellness benefits to companies.

Peak XV Partners (lead) — Led Plum's Series B round of ₹193 Cr.
Tanglin Venture Partners (participated) — Increased stake in the Series B round.
GMO VenturePartners (participated) — Joined as a new investor in the Series B round.
Tiger Global (existing) — Led Plum's Series A round of $15.6 Mn in 2021.
Incubate Fund Asia (existing) — Investor in Plum.

Product: An employee health benefits platform combining insurance with healthcare services.
Customers: Employers and businesses that provide health benefits to employees.
How it makes money: It makes money by selling employee health benefits and insurance-related services to businesses.
What sets it apart: AI-driven claims operations and tighter HR and payroll integrations.
Operations: It plans to expand into preventive care, primary care, mental wellness and telehealth.