OYO Hotels and Homes has now asked its employees to accept 25% salary deduction
Limeroad has undergone company-wide pay cuts and resorted to furloughs
Games24X7 has appointed Rahul Tewari as chief financial officer
This week, the lockdown extension has further stretched the burden of survival on the Indian startups. Startups are adopting cost-cutting measures including job cuts, temporary leaves etc while others are asking employees to take pay cuts to mitigate the revenue impact.
For instance, OYO Hotels and Homes has now asked its employees to “accept” 25% salary deduction effective for April-July 2020 payroll while some employees are sent leave with limited benefits from May 4, 2020, to August 2020.
Also, fashion ecommerce platform Limeroad has undergone company-wide pay cuts and resorted to furloughs. Founders have taken 100% deduction while other employees have taken 10%-30% pay cuts. Meanwhile, startups including an online legal platform for tax Vakilsearch has also laid-off some employees from the sales team. At the same time, mobile marketing platform CleverTap has laid off around 60 employees.
Media reports have surfaced that logistics tech unicorn BlackBuck is laying off around 200 employees. Also, grocery delivery unicorn Grofers has reportedly laid off around 70 employees from its side project of beauty and wellness product brand Orange Something.
Here’s a look at the other important movers and shakers of the week
Accedian Appoints Rajesh Pathak
Accedian has appointed Rajesh Pathak as the country manager for India and SAARC. Pathak will lead Accedian’s growth in these countries with the evolution towards 5G and ongoing investment in digital india initiatives.
Pathak will be responsible for helping Accedian’s customers to understand the experience of their own customers and to support them throughout their digital transformation efforts. With over two decades of experience, Pathak has joined Accedian. Prior to joining, Pathak held senior leadership roles at BT India within sales and partnerships.
Accedian offers performance analytics and end-user experience solutions. The solutions offered by Accedian are said to be helping clients digital transformation.
Games24X7 Appoints Rahul Tewari
Games24X7 has appointed Rahul Tewari as its first chief financial officer with effect from April 15, 2020. Tewari brings in over two decades of experience across strategic finance, corporate development and investment banking in the technology sector. He most recently served as the chief financial officer at Quikr.
Tewari has also worked in investment banks such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank in New York and led technology sector coverage at ICICI Securities. Previously, he has founded and run a cross-border M&A advisory firm. He holds an engineering degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and is an MBA from Cornell University.
Mumbai-based Games24x7 is an Indian online and mobile gaming startup. The company was founded in 2009 by Bhavin Pandya, Trivikraman Thampy.
Manish Bhatia Joins LendingKart
LendingKart has appointed Manish Bhatia as the president of technology, analytics and capabilities. Bhatia will be based out of Bengaluru and will be responsible for building a scalable technology stack for the company.
Bhatia will also work to improve operational agility, risk management, data and analytics capabilities while driving efficiency and improving overall customer acquisition and experience.
Lendingkart is an instant working capital finance platform that provides SMEs with easy access to credit and working capital.
NetApp Appoints Puneet Gupta
NetApp has appointed Puneet Gupta as the vice president for sales for India and SAARC region. Puneet will succeed Anil Valluri, who will move on from NetApp in the last week of April.
Gupta will be responsible for leading NetApp’s operations with a focus on driving customer and business growth. He will also be responsible for strengthening engagement with partners increasing the company’s foothold across India. Puneet will report to Sanjay Rohatgi, senior vice president and general manager for the Asia Pacific.
NetApp is a US-based cloud data services and data management company.