B2B e-commerce platform Udaan cuts 100-plus jobs: Read the company's statement

Homegrown B2B e-commerce platform Udaan has reportedly cut more than 100 jobs. The layoffs are said to be part of a restructuring exercise. The Bengaluru-based company restructured its business units in September to merge the essentials business (FMCG, staples, and pharma) and the discretionary business (general merchandise, lifestyle, and electronics).

What the company said on job cuts
"We have already made significant progress in our journey towards building a profitable business and continue to make relevant interventions to our already proven business model, while remaining customer centric and agile. However, these interventions have also resulted in some redundancies in the system," said the company in a statement.

Job cuts follow funding round
The job cuts have been announced just days after the company secured $340 million in capital. Last week, the B2B e-commerce platform raised $340 million (a mix of equity and convertible notes) in a Series E round led by UK-based savings and investment firm M&G Prudential, and participated by existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global.

Incidentally, this is the second instance, in the last 13 months, where Udaan has sacked staffers soon after it raises a new round of capital. In November 2022 too, Udaan fired 10 percent of its workforce days after raising $120 million in convertible notes. In 2022, Udaan had fired over 500 employees in two phases. Some reports put the number of employees fired in the last round at 150, or about 10 percent of its entire workforce.

Udaan said that it aims to deploy fresh funds towards strengthening customer experience, market penetration, strategic vendor partnerships, and to reinforce long-term capabilities of supply-chain and credit. The fresh funding “enables our continued journey of growth and profitability, positioning us well to be public-market ready in the next 12-18 months", said Vaibhav Gupta, Udaan co-founder and CEO. Founded in 2016, Bengaluru-based Udaan has raised $1.8 billion in funding to date. In FY23, the unicorn saw its operating revenue nosedive by 43 per cent to Rs 5,609 crore from Rs 9,897.3 crore in FY22.