Dunzo Layoffs Announced, 300 Employees to be Let Go

Dunzo layoffs have been announced, and the widely popular company has announced that it will be letting go of 300 employees, which amounts to 30 percent of its workforce. This decision was conveyed to employees at during a town hall meeting held on 5 April 2023. The popular platform that delivers groceries and essentials, fruits and vegetables, meat, pet supplies, food, and medicines in major cities is backed by Reliance Retail.

In January 2022, Reliance Retail led a US$240 million funding round along with Dunzo's existing investors Lightbox, Lightrock, 3L Capital and Alteria Capital. Reliance Retail invested US$200 million for a 25.8% stake in Dunzo. The company said that the reason behind Dunzo layoffs is because after the COVID-19 pandemic, Dunzo has been forced to re-evaluate its business strategy and cut costs.

Dunzo is also expected to witness a shift in its business model, and hence its workforce will be retained keeping in mind the market conditions and how the platform can service its customers better. Dunzo was founded in 2015 by Kabeer Biswas. What was initially a WhatsApp group later transformed itself into a  hyperlocal, app-based service.

Dunzo raised its first round of funding of US$650k in March 2016 from Blume Ventures, Aspada Ventures, accompanied by other investors including, Rajan Anandan, MD of Google India and Sandipan Chattopaday. The platform also has partnerships with FMCG major PepsiCo to deliver its snacks brands such as Lay’s and Kurkure to customers. This partnership came into place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and during the same period Dunzo also partnered with Google Pay to provide grocery and medicine delivery, bike pool, and pickup-and-drop among other services.