India’s Udaan Announces Layoffs in Wake of $120M Fundraise

One week after raising $120 million, Indian B2B eCommerce firm Udaan is laying off at least 350 workers in a bid to reach profitability and boost efficiency.

According to multiple published reports this weekend (Nov. 5-6), the layoffs will affect between 350 and 1,000 employees at the company.

“We believe in efficiency as a driver of profitable growth and will continue to refine our cost structures and models,” a company spokesperson told Inc42. “In this direction, we have taken numerous steps, with enhanced digital capabilities, to achieve efficiency and scale, become more agile, and remain competitive in the marketplace.”

The spokesperson added that new efficiencies and a changing business model have “created some redundancies in the system, with some roles no longer required.”

These layoffs follow a wave of job cuts in the summer. PYMNTS reached out to Udaan, but the company was not immediately available for comment.

Founded in 2016, Udaan serves a range of categories, including lifestyle, electronics, home and kitchen, fruits and vegetables, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), pharmaceuticals, toys and general merchandise.

In late October, PYMNTS reported that the company had raised $120 million with plans to go public within 12 to 18 months.

“Despite the funding-related challenges being experienced by the larger startup ecosystem, this fundraise reflects the confidence of investors in our business model and their endorsement of the journey to unit economics, driven by great progress in the evolution of our business model and cost efficiency, that we initiated last year,” CFO Aditya Pande said.

This year also saw Udaan welcome Microsoft as a contributor to its debt financing round, bringing Udaan’s total debt to $225 million through convertible notes. The company also launched a strategic partnership with supply chain software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Unicommerce to offer inventory and order management to merchants selling lifestyle products on Udaan’s marketplace.