October 1, 2025: Ironclad Ventures has announced a Rs 200 crore investment fund aimed at solving this long-standing problem. The fund is designed to help employees at venture-backed startups unlock liquidity from their ESOPs, offering a structured way to gradually sell vested shares.
In India’s fast-growing startup ecosystem, employee stock options often remain just numbers on paper. While founders chase funding rounds and scale milestones, employees holding ESOPs rarely get a chance to convert their shares into actual cash. That’s about to change with Ironclad Ventures.
Ironclad Ventures : Targeting High-Growth Startups
Ironclad Ventures plans to invest in 30 to 40 promising startups across sectors such as:
- Fintech
- Consumer brands
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
- Emerging technologies
Each company may receive between Rs 1 crore to Rs 4 crore, with the flexibility to participate in future funding rounds as these startups grow.
ESOPs: From “Paper Money” to Real Value
Most VC-backed startups allocate 5% to 15% of their equity to ESOPs. However, employees often struggle to monetize these shares due to limited liquidity events. Ironclad Ventures aims to change that by partnering directly with startups to facilitate periodic liquidity programs.
Founder and CEO Krishna Killa explained, “We want employees to stop seeing ESOPs as ‘paper money.’ If someone has Rs 25 lakh in ESOPs vesting this year, we can buy around 5% each quarter, giving them Rs 5 lakh in cash over the year.”
This approach ensures alignment with founders and protects the integrity of company cap-tables.
Backed by Industry Experts
To strengthen its strategy, Ironclad Ventures is bringing on board experienced advisors, including:
- Arpit Maheshwari (ex-Stellaris Venture Partners)
- Apurva Chamaria (Global Head of VC & Startup Partnerships at Google)
- Shrey Badhani (Co-founder, Kapiva Ayurveda)
The fund is structured with a base corpus of Rs 100 crore and a green-shoe option to scale up to Rs 200 crore.
