B2B e-commerce startup Udaan lays off 350 employees after raising $120 mn

Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform Udaan, which raised $120 million just last month, has sacked nearly 350 employees who were on the regular payroll, while asking hundreds of contractual workers to leave too.

Company sources confirmed to IANS on Sunday that the layoffs "in the upper range of 350 employees" were done as part of cost-cutting measures as well as to tackle redundancies in certain roles across verticals.

"As we move forward in our journey towards making udaan a profitable company, the efficiency enhancement drive and the evolution in business model has created some redundancies in the system, with some roles no longer required. As a responsible organisation, we are working towards providing all requisite support to the impacted employees," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

Despite the funding winter, Udaan last month raised $120 million in convertible notes and debt, as it plans an initial public offering (IPO) in the next 12-18 months.

Udaan's chief financial officer Aditya Pande wrote in an email that the total funds raised by Udaan through convertible notes and debt in the last four quarters have crossed $350 million, making it one of the largest structured instrument fund raises in the country.

Despite raising fresh funds, the company has laid off hundreds of employees.

"We believe in efficiency as a driver of profitable growth and will continue to refine our cost structures and models. 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 company spokesperson noted.

Earlier this year, Udaan raised $250 million, $200 million in convertible notes and $50 million in debt.

In the calendar year 2021, Udaan raised $500 million, taking its total raise to $1.4 billion to date.

To cater to the growing demand, Udaan plans to scale its warehouse capacity to 50 million square feet across the country in the next seven-eight years.