 "layoff, pink slip")
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) startup Simpl laid off over 100 employees across the verticals on Wednesday to improve operational efficiencies and reduce fixed and overhead costs, Business Standard has learnt.
According to sources privy to the development, the layoffs were announced by Nitya Sharma, chief executive officer and co-founder, Simpl, in a townhall organised at 9 am on Wednesday. The layoffs were done across the verticals with some high-level employees also being impacted.
“Some employees, who have been laid off, were logged out of their Slack accounts even before the townhall,” a source said.
As a part of the severance package, Simpl has decided to give two months of salary and 15 days of salary for every year spent at the company. Moreover, it has extended medical insurance and outplacement services.
Before the layoffs, the Bengaluru-based company had around 650 employees.
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Another person aware of the matter said that some people were also fired during March and April after their performance reviews.
“Most of us were expecting appraisals for our performance last year. This layoff was very sudden,” they said.
Simpl, in its response, said the sacking was part of the company’s “journey towards profitability”.
In April last year, Simpl axed over 150 jobs, saying it had overhired by assuming that the demand for e-commerce seen during the pandemic would continue to grow.
“As an organisation committed to creating a shared value for our merchants, and millions of customers across the country, we have undertaken a series of measures to improve operational efficiencies, reduce fixed and overhead costs, along with taking the difficult decision of letting go of some of our talented employees," said Ashish Kulshrestha, head of corporate communications Simpl, in reply to Business Standard's queries.
He also said the company had laid out a "comprehensive growth plan" while having a "razor-sharp focus on profitability".
Kulshrestha added, "With the continued efforts around improving business efficiencies, we are expecting to be profitable by mid-2025." In 2022-23, Simpl had reported a 147 per cent increase in its net loss Rs 356.6 crore.
"I am responsible for making this difficult decision and understand the gravity of its impact on each of you, particularly those of you who are impacted during these uncertain macroeconomic conditions," Sharma had said in a letter to staffers.
Founded in 2016, Simpl has around 26,000 merchants on its platform, including Zomato, MakeMyTrip and Tata 1mg.
