Social commerce CityMall, which unveiled a $75 million financing round in late March, is cutting 191 jobs, the latest Indian startup to eliminate roles as it looks to better navigate the sharp reversal in the markets.
The Gurugaon-headquartered startup, which has raised over $110 million and counts General Catalyst, Norwest Venture Partners and Jungle Ventures among its backers, said it is cutting the jobs to bring about “structural changes across functions at CityMall.”
The layoff impacts at least 30% of the three-year-old startup’s workforce, according to a LinkedIn analysis. CityMall works with over 30 000 micro-entrepreneurs to power its e-commerce engine in about 30 Indian cities. The startup said two months ago that it had over 500 employees.
“After exploring multiple options, we’ve realized that there [are] certain roles within the company which had to be dissolved to align to our evolving business model and the current business environment,” the startup said in a LinkedIn post.
The three-year-old startup said it will work with the affected employees to help them land jobs. “Each & every employee affected by this layoff has contributed to building CityMall to what it is today, and this is one of the toughest decisions the company has ever had to make,” the startup said.
The Sunday announcement marks the latest in a growing series of layoffs among Indian startups. BlinkIt, formerly known as Grofers, a struggling online grocer, online learning platforms Unacademy, Eruditus and Vedantu, cars marketplace Cars24, fintech Rupeek, social commerce Meesho and online pharmacy PharmEasy are among startups that have let go employees in recent weeks.
Jobs of over 9,500 employees in India have been eliminated this year due to the market correction (or so has been the single most popular excuse.) Investors in India, as is the case elsewhere, have significantly slowed down the pace of their investments as tech stocks globally fall to a level not seen in recent years.