Indian B2B unicorn Udaan sacks at least 100 employees

Photo credit: Udaan

India-based Udaan has let go of nearly 100 to 120 employees, a source has told Tech in Asia.

This comes after the online B2B unicorn raised US$340 million in series E money last week. Udaan confirmed the layoffs to Tech in Asia without mentioning the number of employees affected.

“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,” said an Udaan spokesperson. These interventions have resulted in some redundancies in the system, they added.

The Lightspeed Ventures-backed ecommerce platform said it will be offering medical insurance, compensation packages, and placement assistance to those affected.

Last November, the company, which once claimed the title of the fastest Indian startup to reach unicorn status, had fired at least 300 employees days after raising US$120 million.

Founded in 2016, Udaan enables small manufacturers, farmers, and brands to market and sell their products across India. It has a network of over 3 million registered users and 25,000 to 30,000 sellers across 900 cities in the country. It aims to go public in the next 12 to 18 months.

See also: Udaan cuts losses by 33%, but revenue takes hit as it shrinks operations