Giants and minnows alike, not many spared from layoff mania

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Hi readers,

As the funding winter continues to bear down on the tech startup ecosystem, every day brings with it news of new casualties.

The latest names on the list are JD.com-backed fashion ecommerce firm Pomelo, which laid off 8% of its staff; Indonesian e-grocery startup HappyFresh, which is in limbo with salaries being delayed; and Indian fintech firm Rupeek, which conducted its second round of layoffs this past week.

It’s not only the smaller firms that are feeling the chills. Sundar Pichai, CEO of global tech giant Google, reportedly hinted at possible layoffs. While Pichai may not have said it out loud, Tesla CEO Elon Musk did. Shortly after, the electric car maker shut an office in California and cut around 200 employees.

Closer to home, TikTok’s parent firm ByteDance was reported to have laid off “hundreds of employees” in its gaming unit this week. Sea Group’s own gaming arm, Garena, also reportedly cut jobs in its livestreaming business. The Singapore ecommerce and gaming powerhouse was also in the news for rescinding job offers in the past two weeks.

It’s not only startups that are being impacted by the current macroeconomic headwinds. Top investor SoftBank is reportedly planning to cut 20% of its employees at its Vision Fund unit.

This makes me wonder whether this is a sign that we are to see layoffs at VC firms, especially those that are seeing big losses in their funds. I truly hope I am wrong on this one, as it could only mark the beginning of even more cold nights ahead for the startup ecosystem.

But enough of the bleak news. There are also startups that are doing well during this time and are raising funding. We recently reported the financials of startups such as Ninja Van and Atome, both of which have shown healthy numbers.

Startups like these that have good unit economics could also look to hire more as they aim to strengthen their market leadership during this downturn. So those of you who are on the edge, please hang in, as more opportunities are out there.

— Collin Furtado, journalist at Tech in Asia

Top stories this week

Image credit: Timmy Loen

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