Several start-ups recently went for layoffs of employees in order to cut costs and reduce role redundancy. The companies include Meesho, Unacademy, Furlenco, Trell, OkCredit and Lido. Such layoffs were also experienced after funding peaked in 2015 and 2016 across the start-up ecosystem.
Edtech company Unacademy has laid off around 600 employees on account of non-performance and role redundancy as the company looks to enhance efficiency and become profitable by the end of this year, as per reports. The retrenched employees include contractual workers and educators.
E-commerce company firm Meesho has laid off 150 employees from its grocery business, which it recently restructured and rebranded as Meesho Superstore from Farmiso earlier. Last week, the company said it would integrate the grocery vertical into its main app, leading to talks of redundancies within the firm.
A Meesho spokesperson said about 150 full-time employees will be impacted by the restructuring of Meesho Superstore which is aimed at bringing inefficiencies. The company is offering severance packages and outplacement assistance to help those impacted secure new opportunities outside the company.
Furniture rental start-up Furlenco has laid off close to 180-200 employees, a bulk of those being in customer support roles, including grievance management, and scheduling, among other operations, according to reports. The company is backed by the likes of UAE-based CE-Ventures, Zinnia Global Fund, Lightbox, and Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, among others.
Influencer-led social commerce start-up Trell also last month laid off almost 300 people, close to half of its workforce. The Bengaluru-based startup is backed by the likes of UAE-based CE-Ventures, Zinnia Global Fund, Lightbox, Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, among others. The rental startup has raised $60 million since it was founded in 2012 by former Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley executive Ajith Mohan Karimpana. It competes with the likes of Rentomojo and Cityfurnish.
OkCredit, part of Ok Network’s ecosystem of apps for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India, in February also laid off 35-40 employees across all functions. It was 35 per cent of its workforce. The company has been laying off employees as it continues to not see much potential in the entire kirana-led commerce opportunity which relates to e-commerce enablement and other products.
Edtech start-up Lido also laid off 900-1,200 staff members in February. The start-up’s employee strength is around 1,000, and it has laid off 150-200 employees. These employees were reported to have underperformed and were also not regular to the office.
Over 1,700 employees have been impacted in the latest round of cutbacks at start-ups across India. Unacademy announced that it had laid off 600 employees after already cutting over 325 part-time workers and educators from its rolls, while e-commerce unicorn Meesho fired 150 employees, seven months after last raising funds.
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