Simpl Lays Off Around 100 Employees, Eyes Profitability By Mid 2025

SUMMARY

Employees across teams and verticals were impacted, people aware of the matter said

The layoffs were steps undertaken to become efficient and achieve profitability

Impacted employees will receive severance pay for two months and an additional 15 days salary for every year spent at Simpl

Bengaluru-based fintech startup Simpl has undergone another round of restructuring, its second in the past year. The Valar Ventures-backed startup has laid off around 100 employees, Inc42 has learnt from sources.

The layoffs, which were announced earlier in the day, have impacted employees across teams and verticals. In a town hall announcement, Nitya Sharma, the CEO and cofounder revealed the decision to undertake the restructuring exercise.

In a statement to Inc42, Simpl confirmed the restructuring exercise but did not disclose the total number of employees impacted.

“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,” Ashish Kulshrestha, head of corporate communication at Simpl said.

Business Standard was first to report this development

Kulshrestha added these steps will help the company to achieve profitability and become a prudent organisation. The startup claims that it would become profitable by mid 2025.

The startup is offering a severance pay of two months along with 15 days salary for every year spent at Simpl. Additionally, the startup is extending medical insurance and outplacement services.

In April 2023, Simpl had laid off around 120-150 employees to become a “leaner and agile” organisation in the backdrop of the economic slowdown.

Founded in 2016 by Nitya Sharma and Chaitra Chidanand, Simpl provides BNPL offerings to customers at the checkout page on online storefronts and delivery apps. The platform claims to be working with over 26,000 merchants including the likes of Zepto, BigBasket, Nykaa among others. Beside this, the startup has a BillBox product for bill payments.

Earlier this year, Simpl announced a partnership with Zomato to integrate 1-Tap checkout with Zomato Gold, Intercity Legends and Zomato Everyday.

In FY23, Simpl saw its operating revenue surge by 176% to INR 87.3 Cr from INR 31.6 Cr, and its net loss increased by 147% to INR 356.6 Cr. Among the larger expenses, employee benefit costs jumped by 3.5X to INR 139.2 Cr in FY23.

Simpl claims that it has processed over 49 Mn transactions through its platform and has over 7 Mn users. The startup had last raised $40 Mn in its Series B funding round led by Valar Ventures.

To date, the startup has raised over $70 Mn in funding across multiple rounds of funding and counts IA Ventures, Green Visor Capital, among others as its backers.