Cars24, a marketplace for used cars, has laid off about 600 people just five months after closing a $400 million financing round, the latest Indian unicorn to cut its workforce as it attempts to steer through the gloomy market conditions.
The Cars24 layoff, which represents about 6% of the startup’s workforce, affects staff across multiple divisions, a person familiar with the matter said.
A spokesperson for Cars24, a “Series G” startup valued at $3.3 billion, insisted in a statement that the move was “business as usual.”
Cars24 has raised over $1 billion in debt and equity financing over the years and counts SoftBank, Alpha Wave Global and DST Global among its backers.
A growing number of startups in India — as is the case elsewhere — are streamlining their teams to improve their financials and increase the runway.
Indian edtech Vedantu has let go over 620 people in recent weeks, whereas its chief rival, Unacademy, has fired about 1,000 individuals. Meesho, OkCredit, Trell, Furlenco and Lido have also cut several roles within their firms in recent weeks.
Investors are advising startups to cut their costs and increase the runway by as much as three years, according to several people familiar with the matter. Plenty of funding rounds that were getting finalized a few weeks ago are increasingly being renegotiated or stalled or canned, according to the people.