Open founders / Photo credit: Open
India-based Open, a digibank unicorn backed by Singapore’s Temasek, has laid off 47 staff based on employee performance.
Its founders have also taken a 50% pay cut as part of efforts “to brace for scale and profitability.” However, the company stresses that none of its employees’ salaries have been reduced.
Anish Achuthan, Open’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement that the staffing changes were “driven solely” by performance evaluations. The effort also involves giving high performers 20% to 30% pay hikes on average and employee stock ownership plans.
He notes that Open is “one of the very few startups with visibility on profitability and runway above 30 months.” The company is still recruiting for positions in growth marketing, product, and sales.
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Last May, Open raised US$50 million, which brought it into unicorn territory. The company has raised about US$190 million in funding, according to Crunchbase data. Besides Temasek, it also has other globally known backers such as Google, Tiger Global, and SBI Investment.
Founded in 2017, the neobank helps SMEs with their banking requirements. Open also offers tools to help these businesses manage payments and accounting processes digitally.
Editing by Thu Huong Le and Jaclyn Tiu
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