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In a creative move to attract and retain talent, direct-to-consumer meat and meat products brand Licioushas announced daily vesting of Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOPs) for employees after the mandatory period of one year is over for the employee holding the shares. 

Employees will also be able to liquidate their shares in the company at any time, according to a statement issued by the company. Licious will set aside a pool of secondary funds every year to allow for liquidation. 

The current scheme, which comes into effect on January 1, 2022, will benefit nearly 1,000 employees who hold shares in the company, which was valued at $1.05 billion in its latest round of funding in October led by IIFL’s Late Stage Tech Fund and Avendus. Newly issued ESOPs by the company will also fall under the plan, said the statement.

Currently, Licious employs over 3,500 people across roles and functions.

Founded in 2015 by Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, Licious conducted its maiden ESOP buyback for Rs 30 crore of shares in August. 

“At Licious, we have been recording unprecedented growth and that too in a highly unorganised market. Our employees’ contribution in this growth trajectory has been enormous and incentivizing them well is among our priorities,” said Vivek and Abhay in a joint statement.

The Co-founders also said, “We are conscious of helping Licians meet their personal and financial goals through wealth creation as we organize the market, and making vesting and buying ESOPs daily, signifies the same.”

Earlier this month, education infrastructure startup Teachmint had also announced a continuous ESOP liquidity plan for the coming year where employees can liquidate their shares against cash any time during the coming year.

Earlier this year, edtech unicorn Unacademy had announced issuing $40 million worth of ESOPs to educators on the platform over the next few years to reward talent.