integrate the grocery vertical into its main app, resulting in talks of redundancies inside the agency.
A Meesho spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to ET and stated, “ About 150 full time staff shall be impacted by the restructuring of Meesho Superstore which is aimed toward bringing in efficiencies. The corporate is providing severance packages and outplacement help to assist these impacted safe new alternatives outdoors the corporate.”
Sources near the event advised ET that round 400 staff shall be impacted by the corporate’s downsizing transfer. Meesho, nonetheless, denied this and stated solely 150 of its employees had been being requested to go.
“ The redundancies don’t affect any positions on the core Meesho market enterprise, the place we proceed to rent and develop expertise,” a blogpost from Meesho stated on Monday.
The corporate stated on April 6 that its grocery service, at the moment out there in six cities, could be scaled as much as 12 cities by the tip of the yr.
Superstore has the best variety of staff within the firm with a headcount of greater than 500, stated a supply inside Meesho. The roles which have been affected are metropolis degree managers, product, design and executives who labored on its person interface.
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An worker who was requested to go advised ET on the situation of anonymity that the corporate stated it was pivoting its grocery enterprise and would transfer to a distinct mannequin that gained’t depend on metropolis degree executives. The particular person stated not one of the staff had been given a previous discover about their terminations.
The layoffs are an try to scale back its money burn, in accordance with sources within the know.
ET reported in September that
Meesho was burning around $20-25 million per month amid intense competitors within the on-line retail market. The money burn inched as much as as a lot as $50 million monthly earlier this yr, sources within the know stated.
Superstore started as a pilot in Karnataka final yr and was primarily focused at tier-II cities and prospects with an emphasis on decrease costs than the comfort of quicker supply, which fast commerce gamers like Swiggy’s Instamart, Zepto and others have been specializing in.
Meesho competes with the likes of Dealshare, Citymall and Flipkart’s Shopsy, which goal customers via group shopping for fashions.
The corporate has been in talks to boost contemporary capital after having mopped up $570 million in September led by Constancy.
Backed by SoftBank Imaginative and prescient Fund and Prosus (earlier Naspers), amongst others, it has been available in the market to boost new capital, however sources stated it was but to shut the fundraise.
Meesho, like many different well-funded startups, is trying to prune money burn after a yr of eye-popping funding and skyrocketing valuations snagged by Indian new age corporations.
On March 26, ET reported that furnishings rental firm
Furlenco let go of 180 employees and on April 7, we reported that
Unacademy had laid off over 1,000 employees.