Amid layoffs, THIS startup is hiring employees who lost their jobs

Even as major tech companies such as Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and others are cutting jobs, startups in India have expressed an intent to hire affected employees as they look to expand their business to push growth. One such organisation is mobile advertising and digital publishing solutions startup, AdCounty Media. The startup has said that it will hire employees who have lost their jobs. The hiring is a part of the company's plan to expand into domains like programmatic and in-house DSP alongside developing product streaming and gaming applications.

It said that 75 per cent quota will be reserved for individuals who lost their jobs owing to the mass layoffs of the funding winter at Indian startups. 

"The company plans to hire 150 new professionals in this financial year to fuel global expansion and diversification. ," a company release said.

The company is presently catering to a diverse clientele spanning 25 countries.

The Indian startup ecosystem suffered a huge setback in the funding winter wherein approximately 25,000+ employees were laid off by 88 startups. The major trigger behind this was the draining of public and private equity markets of liquidity following tensions between Russia and Ukraine which resulted in skyrocketing interest rates, costly debts. 

The great Indian startup and unicorn party, which saw record funding volumes in 2020, 2021 and the first half of 2022, appears to be over for now as several top names in the ecosystem continue to bleed money, with no respite in sight in FY23.

At least 55 (74 per cent) of 74 unicorns incurred a cumulative operating loss of $5.9 billion in FY22, according to leading startup covering portal Inc42. Of those heavy loss-making unicorns, 14 were from the e-commerce sector, followed by fintech at 13, and consumer services at six unicorns, the report added.

While Swiggy incurred around $398 million loss in FY22, BharatPe reported $726 million operating loss in FY22. Flipkart incurred $568 million loss and Meesho reported $422 million operating loss.