Circles Life denies management reshuffle, layoffs (update)

Circles Life co-founders (from left) Adeel Najam, Rameez Ansar, and Abhishek Gupta/ Photo credit: Circles Life

Circles Life has denied that co-founder Abhishek Gupta is stepping down from his operational role amid an internal reshuffle.

In a statement released today, the Singapore-based digital telecom provider reaffirmed that Gupta remains a co-founder, retains his title since formation and is “strongly vested” in the business.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg on Friday.

Gupta co-founded the company in 2014 alongside Rameez Ansar and Adeel Najam. It provides digital telco services for consumers in Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia. The firm counts Warburg Pincus, Sequoia Capital, and EDBI as its investors.

According to Bloomberg, Circles Life was implementing an initiative called Brave New World that gives CEO Rameez Ansar 180 days to revive the startup after layoffs and departures of top executives.

The company, however, called the news of layoffs “untrue,” noting that its current global headcount of more than 600 is “marginally higher” than the start of the year. “Brave New World is an internal theme we named for our second half of 2023 planning,” a Circles spokesperson said.

In May, Circles Life entered the Middle East through a joint venture with e& International to roll out digital telcos in Abu Dhabi.

In 2022, the Singapore firm reportedly discussed to go public via a merger with Bridgetown Holdings, the special purpose acquisition company backed by Peter Thiel and Richard Li.

During an interview at Tech in Asia 2022 conference, co-founder Ansar refused to comment on the IPO plan, but he said that all founders should at least consider going public at some point in their own startup journeys.

Note: This article was written with the help of AI. Don’t worry, humans were still involved in producing this story.

Update (July 8, 9:30 p.m. SGT): This article was updated to reflect a statement from Circles Life. 

See also: Circles Global co-founder shares flourishing journey en route to potential IPO