More than 15,000 employees were laid off by roughly 100 Indian startups in 2023 as funding winter persists. According to data sourced from Layoffs.fyi, cash-strapped Byju’s sacked 2,500 of its staff in the second round this year. The ed-tech startup’s founder Byju Raveendran pledged his home to raise funds for paying salaries to his employees.
Startups that handed out pink slips to more than 100 employees this year include Ola (200), Captain Fresh (120), ShareChat (500), Swiggy (380), MediBuddy (200), DealShare (100), MyGate (200), Polygon (100), SAP Labs (300), upGrad (120), Pristyn Care (300), 1k Kirana (600), Dunzo (300), Zest Money (100), Simpl (150), Skill Lync (400), Extramarks (300), Vah Vah! (150), Meesho (251), Cuemath (100), Happay (160), Glamyo Health (160), Mojocare (170), WayCool (300), Navi Technologies (200), MilkBasket (400), Tekion (300), Spinny (300), MPL (350), Dunzo (150), ZestMoney (150), Simplilearn (200), Udaan (100), among others.
Globally, more than 1,160 tech companies laid off 26,02,238 employees this year. Last year, 1,064 companies fired 1,64,969 staff.
Indian startups witness 65.8% drop in funding between Jan-Nov 2023: GlobalData
With fresh funding becoming scarce, startups were forced to cut marketing expenses, realign cost structures, and reduce employee costs.
Indian startups witnessed a 65.8% drop in funding in terms of value between January and November 2023.
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This year, the Indian startups raised $6.9 billion across 1,013 venture capital (VC) funding deals, according to GlobalData. Among the top VC funding deals in Indian startups, this year were $250 million fundraising by PhysicsWallah, $229 million raised by Perfios Software Solutions, $200 million by PhoinePe, $200 million by Zepto, and $120 million worth of funding raised by Zetwerk.
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Last year, Indian startups secured more than $10 billion mark in VC funding in just four months.
The unicorn tally also shrank significantly in India. Only Zepto and Unicorn earned this title this year in contrast to 24 unicorns in 2022.
GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database also mentioned that VC funding in terms of volume dropped 38.4% to 1,644 VC deals between January and November time frame.
