India's VerSe Innovation cuts 5% of its workforce, reduces salaries by 11%

Google and Microsoft-backed, VerSe Innovation has become the latest Indian startup to cut its workforce, due to ongoing economic uncertainties.

The $5 billion valued startup behind news aggregator Dailyhunt, short-video platform Josh and hyperlocal video app PublicVibe, has laid off 150 employees, from its 3,000-strong workforce, representing 5% of its staff per The Economic Times.

The report also confirmed that the startup implemented an 11% salary cut for all remaining employees with salaries above $12,200 (10 lakh Indian rupees) per annum.

The Bengaluru-based startup informed impacted employees on Friday and separately held a town hall meeting on Monday where it announced pay cuts to its remaining staff.

Notably, the company raised $805 million in April this year, from investors, including CPP Investments, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Board, Luxor Capital, Sumeru Ventures and Sofina Group, in a round that valued the company at $5 billion.

VerSe Innovation claimed that Josh, the video platform which it launched in 2020 after Chinese short-video platform TikTok was banned in India had climbed to over 150 million users, including 50 million creators. Similarly, Dailyhunt grew its creator ecosystem to over 100,000 content partners and crossed the mark of 350 million users, while PublicVibe expanded its user base to more than 5 million monthly active users.

However, that growth did not help VerSe Innovation offset its losses as its losses in the financial year 2021-22 grew over 217% to $314 million from $99 million in 2021.

The firm now joins the list of Indian companies that have made a cut to their workforce. In the last couple of months, Byju’s Unacademy and Chargebee, among others, have laid off hundreds of employees amid ongoing economic uncertainties..