Indian Foodtech Startup Swiggy To Cut 6% Of Staff Ahead Of Planned IPO

Swiggy, an Indian foodtech startup looking to go public later this year, will cut around 6% of its workforce, Indian newspaper ET first reported Thursday, citing people aware of the matter.

The layoffs, which will be conducted gradually over the coming weeks, will affect various departments across the company, including in the call center unit, corporate roles, and the technology department. Between 350-400 jobs will be eliminated in the layoffs.

Customer support and tech teams will be hit hardest by the latest round of cuts, sources told Inc42.

Swiggy, an Indian foodtech startup looking to go public later this year, will cut around 6% of its workforce, affecting 350-400 jobs, Indian newspaper ET first reported Thursday, citing people aware of the matter.

The layoffs, which will be conducted gradually over the coming weeks, will happen across the company in various departments such as call center, corporate and technology. Some higher positions will also be affected by the cuts.

Customer support and tech teams will be hit hardest by the latest round of cuts, sources told Inc42.

"Senior executives have been given a list and need to identify executives to be laid off. This is linked to the planned IPO of Swiggy where it needs to present the best possible numbers," one person aware of the matter told ET.

The people said Swiggy's main business food delivery does not need major funds, but the startup has reportedly been burning cash on Instamart, its grocery unit. At this point, the food delivery provider wants to cut costs and hit profitability before it pursues an initial public offering (IPO), as per the people.

Swiggy did not immediately respond to International Business Times' request for comment.

The layoffs come more than a year after the startup cut 380 jobs and closed its meat marketplace amid the market downturn that made many companies transition to a leaner workforce.

During its January 2023 layoffs, Swiggy co-founder and chief executive Sriharsha Majety said the startup over-projected its growth prospects in the food delivery segment. "This meant that we needed to revisit our overall indirect costs to hit our profitability goals," thus the need to "right-size our overall personnel costs," as per an email sent to employees. He admitted that the startup over-hired, calling it "a case of poor judgment" on his side.

Swiggy joins a few other Indian tech companies that implemented workforce reductions so far this year, including adtech unicorn InMobi, which said earlier this month that it was planning to eliminate more than 100 jobs.

Another Bengaluru-based company, tech-enabled unicorn Cult.fit, reportedly cut around 120-150 workers as part of its cost-cutting measures, Moneycontrol reported, citing people aware of the matter.

FlipKart, a Walmart-owned e-commerce giant, will also reportedly cut about 5% of its workforce, affecting around 1,000 employees as part of an annual restructuring. Just like Swiggy, Flipkart is planning an IPO.