BENGALURU: Online delivery platform Dunzo has reportedly fired 30% of its workforce or nearly 300 employees. It is said that the layoffs were to cut costs and also streamline the start-up’s operations.
The start-up is said to have raised $75 million via convertible notes. Dunzo declined to comment on both layoffs and fundraising.
In January, Dunzo fired 3% of its workforce or 80 employees and said the start-up is continuously looking at its team structures and network design to build efficiency into teams. “As we scale from 10 to 100, we are continuously learning how to redefine business processes at scale. Any decision that impacts people is tough, and always our last option,” Kabeer Biswas, CEO & co-founder, Dunzo, had said.
Focusing on profitability, many start-ups have been firing their employees. Last week, in its latest cost-cutting measure, SoftBank-backed Unacademy said it would fire 380 or 12% of its workforce. With the current global unrest, funding winter, start-ups across sectors have been affected and many have announced hiring freeze. Founded in 2014, as per Tracxn, the start-up has raised $405 million so far and employs over 1,800. Its last funding was $6.12 million in November and post-funding it was valued at $757 million in May 2022.
Backed by Google, Blume Ventures, Alteria Capital and Lightrock, among others, the start-up in FY22 reported Rs 67.7 crore revenue, up from Rs 29.4 crore in the year-ago period. Its loss stood at Rs 464 crore in FY22. Dunzo competes with Swiggy, Zepto and Blinkit, among others. As per Statista, revenue in online food delivery market in India is projected to reach $34.68 billion in 2023 and grocery delivery segment likely to see a revenue growth of 36.1% in 2024.