Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce unicorn Moglix has laid off 30-40 employees, joining a large group of Indian startups that have slashed workforce to cut costs since last year.
“We keep a watch out for low performers and continue to automate tasks, for which annually 2-3% people can be impacted,” the company said in a statement.
News website Moneycontrol, which first reported the development, said that the number could be higher to about 15% of the company’s strength.
“We have hired 700+ people this year and continue to expand with a target to hire 300+ people for 2023,” the company said.
The layoffs at the Tiger Global-backed unicorn come at a time when it is in talks to raise $100-150 million from new and existing investors, as reported by VCCircle last month. The fundraise, which is expected to close this quarter, is likely to fetch a 20% premium on its last valuation of $2.6 billion.
Founded in 2015 by Rahul Garg, Moglix offers an industrial marketplace for manufacturing and infrastructure companies, helping them from procurement to distribution. It supports over 500,000 small and medium-sized enterprises and over 1,000 large companies across India and the UAE through its network of over 16,000 suppliers, over 40 warehouses and related logistics infrastructure.
Last year, Moglix had raised $250 million as part of its Series F round that valued it at $2.6 billion. The startup had entered the unicorn club in 2021. It also counts Alpha Wave Global (formerly Falcon Edge), Jungle Ventures, Accel, Ward Ferry and IFC as its other investors. The company has so far raised up to $470 million in equity funding.
Owing to a damp investor sentiment and focus on profitability, startups have been cutting costs to ensure a longer runway. Firings are happening across companies as firms aim to save cash. More than 19,000 employees lost their jobs in startups last year.
Last month, payment service provider PayU fired about 150 staff or about 6% of its staff. Previously, Nasdaq-listed software-as-a-service company Freshworks Inc let go off 90 employees globally, or around 2% workforce.
