SoftBank-Backed Whatfix Fires 60 Employees

SoftBank-backed B2B SaaS startup Whatfix has laid off around 60 employees, with most of the cuts coming from its sales and marketing go-to-market (GTM) teams. The company had a total headcount of over 900 employees prior to the layoffs, sources told Inc42.

Sources added that the layoffs were triggered by increased adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) within the company. Whatfix confirmed the layoffs.

“As part of this shift, approximately 6% of our current headcount was impacted, with around 4% in our GTM teams to better align our go-to-market motion with the strong traction we are seeing in our AI-first product lines,” the startup said.

Founded in 2013 by Khadim Batti and Vara Kumar, Whatfix is a SaaS soonicorn that offers businesses an AI-powered digital adoption platform (DAP). Used by over 700 enterprises, the DAP helps businesses accelerate user adoption of software, onboard employees, and maximise the ROI of technology investments.  

As part of its broader AI push, Whatfix has been investing in data scientists, engineering upskilling and dedicated AI budgets across departments. CEO Batti has told Inc42 that Whatfix, in the last few years, has spent a few million dollars each year to make its products fully AI-enabled.

The startup entered AI in 2019 by acquiring Airim for AI-powered personalisation engines and launched its patented technology ScreenSense for enhanced user experiences and recommendations using AI.

In its last disclosed financials, the SaaS major reported a 49% jump in operating revenue to INR 425 Cr in FY24 from INR 285 Cr in the previous fiscal year. The startup narrowed its net loss by 20% to INR 263 Cr from INR 328.3 Cr in FY23. 

In the fiscal, a majority (about 68%) of its revenue came from the US market, while it generated around 22-24% from the European markets. India, Australia and Singapore contribute nearly 10% to its revenue stream.

The layoffs at the startup mirror a wider shift among legacy enterprise players such as Workday and Salesforce, which have been doubling down on AI teams and R&D, signalling a move from traditional SaaS to AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS).

The layoffs at Whatfix is not an isolated incident but rather a broader theme that has emerged in the global tech ecosystem in 2025. 

Earlier this year, TCS underwent a significant workforce restructuring which led to layoffs affecting roughly 12,000-20,000 employees. Big tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Google have also handed out pink slips to chunks of employees this year.

In the startup ecosystem, startups like Ola Electric, Eternal, Builder AI, Gupshup, among others, have fired over 9,500 employees this year. While many layoffs came at the behest of business collapses (eg. BluSmart), many startups reduced their employee counts on the back of AI integrations.