Indian buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) fintech Simpl has laid off over 25% of its workforce, or more than 150-200 employees, according to anonymous sources. The move is intended to extend Simpl’s runway and comes after the company raised $40m in December 2021 to scale up its service. Simpl’s spokesperson confirmed the layoffs in an email, saying they were in response to the current economic conditions and would make the firm leaner and more agile. Simpl has also recorded rapid growth, including 42 million users in 2022 and a 17x surge in revenue to INR316.3m ($4.2m) in FY22.
Simpl has raised a total of $83 million across several funding rounds, with $40 million being raised in December 2021 to scale up its buy-now-pay-later service. The Bengaluru-based firm has claimed to have recorded 42 million users on its platform in 2022 and onboarded 19,000 merchants, taking the total number of merchants to 26,000. However, the company has also recently laid off over 25% of its workforce, or more than 150-200 employees, in an effort to become leaner and more agile.
Recently, the company’s direct competitor ZestMoney was also in the spotlight for laying off employees after the company’s deal with PhonePe fell through. Simpl recorded a scorching pace of growth in FY22, with revenue surging by over 17 times to INR 316.3 million ($4.2 million) compared to INR 18.1 million ($0.2 million) in FY21. However, the company’s losses also mounted significantly, increasing by 22.5 times to INR 1.44 billion ($19.2 million) in FY22 from INR 63.9 million ($0.9 million) in FY21. Simpl’s direct competitor, ZestMoney, was also in the spotlight for laying off employees after its deal with PhonePe fell through. The layoff trend in the Indian fintech sector has been linked to companies’ efforts to extend their runways and become leaner and more agile in the face of challenging economic conditions.