Josh, Dailyhunt's Parent VerSe Fires 150 Employees, Cuts Salaries For Many
The layoffs and salary cuts have come seven months after the company announced that it had raised a massive $805 million
VerSe Innovation Pvt., the parent company of short video app Josh and news app Dailyhunt, has laid off about 150 employees and cut salaries for a section of its employees as cost-cutting measures across startups continue.
"Given the current economic climate, like other businesses, we’ve evaluated our strategic priorities. Considering the long-term viability of the business...we have taken steps to implement our regular biannual performance management cycle and made performance and business considerations to streamline our costs and our teams. This has impacted 5% of our 3,000-strong workforce," a VerSe Innovation spokesperson told BQ Prime.
In addition, VerSe said it has implemented a 11% pay cut for individuals with salaries above 10 lakh per annum "to ensure long-term profitable growth."
It added that it remains "committed and bullish" on its apps Josh, Dailyhunt, and PublicVibe to "drive profitable growth."
The layoffs and salary cuts have come seven months after the company announced that it had raised a massive $805 million from several marquee global investors, such as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, and Luxor Capital, among others. VerSe Innovation’s valuation reached roughly $5 billion in this April round.
Before the April round, the company had already raised around $650 million from Falcon Edge Capital, Google, Microsoft, and the Qatar Investment Authority.
Its other investors include Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India, Lupa Systems, IIFL, Kotak, Catamaran, Bay Capital, Edelweiss, and Omidyar Network.
The cost-cutting measures have come despite the company raising total capital of about $2 billion in a relatively short span of time. This continues to be a stark reminder of the funding winter that has hit the Indian startup ecosystem.
FrontRow, Byju's, and Vedantu have also laid off staff over the past year as cost-cutting measures have become commonplace.
