Rebel Foods Grants Rs 170 Crore ESOPs to Co-founders — Startup Funding India, October 2026

Cloud kitchen operator Rebel Foods has approved a fresh employee stock option (ESOP) grant worth around Rs 170 crore to its five co-founders, Entrackr reported on October 22, 2026 — a striking show of confidence in the company's road to profitability and a potential public listing.

The grant, founder by founder

The board approved the grant of 25.36 lakh ESOPs at an exercise price of Rs 670 per option, taking the fresh grant's value to approximately Rs 170 crore. Co-founder and CEO Ankush Grover received the largest allocation of 17.09 lakh ESOPs worth Rs 114.51 crore, followed by Jaydeep Barman with 4.27 lakh options valued at Rs 28.63 crore. Piyush Kakkad, Soumyadeep Barman and Ankur Sharma received 1.34 lakh ESOPs each, worth around Rs 8.95 crore per person.

Grover replaced Jaydeep Barman as CEO in July 2025 and has since been tasked with steering Rebel Foods toward profitability and getting the company ready for a potential public listing. A significant portion of Grover's ESOPs appears to be linked to milestones.

Numbers behind the move

Rebel Foods reported a 20% increase in operating revenue to Rs 1,951.6 crore in FY26, while losses narrowed 16.3% to Rs 281.8 crore. The company has raised nearly $803 million to date, with Peak XV Partners, Coatue, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Lightbox among its prominent investors. It operates brands including Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, Oven Story Pizza, Sweet Truth and The Good Bowl, and shut down its 15-minute delivery app QuickiES earlier this year amid high cash burn.