Bengaluru-based quick commerce platform Dunzo laid off 3 per cent of its workforce last week. However, the specific number of laid-off employees is yet to be revealed.
The company has an employee count of over 3100 employees, as per LinkedIn.
"Last week, we had to part ways with 3 per cent of our team strength. Whatever the numbers, these are people who chose to build their careers with Dunzo, and it is sad to have talented colleagues leave us," said Kabeer Biswas, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder, Dunzo in a media statement.
The company is reportedly extending the best support possible to help the employees during this transition. "We are continuously looking at our team structures and network design to build efficiency into our teams. As we scale from 10 to 100, we are continuously learning how to redefine business processes at scale," Biswas added.
On January 6, 2023, Outlook India reported that Dunzo was looking to raise about $100 million (up to Rs 825 crore) through convertible notes to scale its Dunzo Daily verticle.
Previously it raised $240 million in an investment round led by Reliance Retail and $6.2 million from Blacksoil India via debentures.
The start-up achieved a valuation of $775 million with the funding in January 2022.
Biswas highlighted that any decision that impacts people is tough and is always our last option.
In the financial year 2021-22 (FY22), the start-up reported a net loss of Rs 464 crore, a 2X spike from Rs 229.1 crore in FY21, due to significant operational costs. The company's delivery-related expenses reportedly accounted for 25.2 per cent of the overall spending and shot up 4.6X to Rs 134 crore in FY22 from Rs 29.4 crore in FY21.
Like other enterprises, Dunzo also took cost-cutting measures to keep the business on the profitability track during economic hardships. It corrected its incentive pattern and replaced cloth bags with cheap paper bags. According to an Economic Times (ET) report, some of its changes led the delivery staff to protest against the company.