India's VerSe Innovation, the $5 billion Indian startup behind news aggregation Dailyhunt, short-video platform Josh, and hyperlocal video app PublicVibe, has cut 150 employees.
The Bengaluru-based startup informed impacted employees on Friday and held a town hall meeting on Monday where it announced pay cuts to its remaining staff.
As recently as April of this year, VerSe Innovation raised more than $800 million in fresh funding, thanks to the backing of the likes of Microsoft and Google. The change shows how much the bottom has fallen out from under the advertising market, how that is impacting high-profile consumer businesses reliant on it, and how that is stretching to some of the fastest-growing digital markets like India.
We evaluated our priorities given the current economic climate. Considering the long-term viability of the business and our people, we have taken steps to implement our regular bi-annual performance management cycle.
All remaining employees with salaries over $12,200 per annum were affected by the salary cut.
He said that they remained bullish and committed to drive profitable growth.
The Series J round was led by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board is made up of various people.
The startup at the time said that its Josh app had more than 150 million users and 50 million creators. Dailyhunt grew to over 100,000 content partners and crossed the mark of 350 million users, while PublicVibe grew to over 5 million monthly active users.
VerSe Innovation was not helped by growth.
According to Entrackr, the startup's losses in the financial year of 2020-21 grew to $314 million (2,563 crores Indian rupees) from 99 million (808 crores Indian rupee) in the previous year. The operating revenue increased to $118 million from $82 million.
VerSe Innovation has cut its workforce due to economic uncertainties. Hundreds of employees have been laid off in the last few months.
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