In an effort to navigate the market slump that has compelled businesses to become smaller and more disciplined, Swiggy plans to eliminate 380 positions and close down its meat marketplace. Swiggy is an Indian food delivery giant financed by Prosus Venture and SoftBank.
Swiggy co-founder and CEO Sriharsha Majety stated in a Friday email to staff that the company has advanced its ambitions for profitability and now needs to make difficult financial decisions. About 6,000 people work for the business with its headquarters in Bengaluru, which was estimated at $10.7 billion at a fundraising round in January of last year.
Majety claimed that the startup had overestimated growth in meal delivery, just like other companies in the same industry globally. According to Majety, the business reportedly intends to “effective immediately” close its meat marketplace. According to the email from Majety, the affected workers will get a severance package that ranges from 3 to 6 months in length, plus additional days for each year of employment with the business.
Additionally, Swiggy will shorten its vesting cliff and will continue to cover their medical expenses as well as those of their dependents through May of this year. Job losses started last year and continued through 2023.
Numerous firms, such as Ola, Cashfree, Dunzo, Zomato, Unacademy, CoinDCX, ShareChat, and Byjus, have recently made personnel reductions. Over 20,000 startup employees in India have sacrificed their employment since the market collapse, according to industry sources.
According to the TechCrunch article, Swiggy hired a panel of bankers last year to assess its proposals for a $1 billion first public offering scheduled for 2023. It is now awaiting a change in market conditions before moving forward with the proposal. Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive of e-commerce giant Flipkart, cautioned late last year that the startup ecosystem’s funding winter would persist for another 1 to 1.5 years and that there might be “a lot of instability and volatility” in the market.