🚀 Medial Secures Investment on Shark Tank India - Fueling the Future of Professional Social Networking. 🔥
Login

News on Medial

Licious lays off 80 employees citing ‘operational reset’

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Licious lays off 80 employees citing ‘operational reset’
Medial

D2C meat and seafood brand Licious has laid off nearly 3% of its workforce citing “operational reset to sharpen the growth focus.” The move will affect 80 employees. Licious has 3,000 employees including 650 in corporate and 2,350 in production and supply chain. While the company did not disclose the impacted functions, sources say that the exercise affected all departments. “Licious, as a brand, sees significant scope in expanding the number of targeted households to further fuel the consumer transition from traditional markets to contemporary purchase formats. We are reprioritizing our cost outlays, considering the new growth levers. In doing this, it is unfortunate that we have to separate with some employees who have been a part of our journey,” the company said in a statement. Licious will be providing two months’ salaries as compensation, along with the variable payment for FY24 to the impacted employees, the statement added. Founded in 2015 by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, Licious sells meat, seafood and ready-to-cook items across 25 cities. The sale of these products formed the majority source of revenue for Licious in FY23. The company turned unicorn following a $52 million round led by IIFL AMC’s Late Stage Tech Fund in October 2021. During the same year, it also scooped up $192 million in Series F round. In total, it has raised $490 million to date. Despite back-to-back funding during FY23, Licious’s operating income remained flat with mere 9.6% growth to Rs 747.7 crore from Rs 682.5 crore in FY22. It also saw a modest increase of 3.1% in its losses to Rs 500 crore in FY23 from Rs 485 crore in the previous fiscal year. Interestingly, the company had claimed that it is close to achieving profitability at the EBITDA level. In its latest statement, however, Licious said it is tracking an annual revenue run rate currently of Rs 900 crore. The company further said it will introduce a new market expansion plan in the coming weeks. “With significant investments in the brand, deeper backward integration and an active pursuit of automation in the supply chain, Licious will focus on expanding the market potential and reach in the next financial year. Licious has already resurrected the marketing spending this year after recasting the growth levers,” the company said. Licious is the largest player in this space and competes with the likes of FreshToHome, Zapfresh, BBDaily, MeatRoot and Easymeat. There has been a surge in layoffs across late-stage startups in the past couple of months. Flipkart, Swiggy, InMobi, ShareChat, Polygon, Cult.fit, and Paytm (now a public company) have already fired more than 3,500 employees collectively since December 2023.

Related News

Licious reports Rs 685 Cr revenue in FY24; cuts losses by 44%

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Licious reports Rs 685 Cr revenue in FY24; cuts losses by 44%
Medial

D2C meat and seafood brand Licious has experienced sluggish growth over the past two fiscal years, with revenue hovering around Rs 700 crore. However, the firm has successfully reduced its losses by 44% in the last fiscal year (FY24). According to the company’s press release, Licious’s revenue declined by 9%, from Rs 746 crore in FY23 to Rs 685 crore in FY24. This modest decline was attributed to the closure of distribution channels like Dunzo and Swiggy Meatsore, as well as a winding down of exposure to modern trade and local stores. Licious reports serving 1.2 million customers each month through its app, which now drives 85% of its total business. The company’s flagship program, Infinity, accounts for 58% of its overall revenue. Despite the slight decrease in revenue, Licious implemented cost control measures that helped cut losses by 44%, bringing them down to Rs 294 crore in FY24 from Rs 524 crore in FY23. The company also anticipates achieving positive EBITDA in the current fiscal year. By the end of FY24, Licious laid off nearly 3% of its workforce citing “operational reset to sharpen the growth focus. The move impacted 80 employees. In an effort to enhance customer experience, Licious is piloting 30-minute deliveries in Gurugram as it shifts to a full-stack D2C model. Additionally, on Tuesday, the firm expanded its physical retail presence by acquiring Bengaluru-based offline retailer My Chicken and More, increasing its retail points of sale to 26. To date, the Bengaluru-based company has raised over $450 million. According to TheKredible, Mayfield India is the largest stakeholder in Licious with 14.69%, followed by Vertex Ventures, 3one4 Capital, Temasek, and others. Licious is the largest player in the D2C meat and seafood space, competing with companies like FreshToHome, Zapfresh, BBDaily, MeatRoot, and Easymeat. In October 2023, quick commerce platform Zepto entered the meat delivery market with its in-house brand, Relish. This vertical reportedly achieved an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of Rs 150 crore in just six months, with a projected revenue run rate of Rs 1,000 crore by March 2026.

Exclusive: Aakash lays off employees amid strategic shift

EntrackrEntrackr · 10m ago
Exclusive: Aakash lays off employees amid strategic shift
Medial

Byju’s-owned Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) has laid off 80 to 100 employees over the past couple of months, according to sources familiar with the matter. “Aakash has fired anywhere between 80-100 employees, including senior and middle-level executives, who were impacted by the layoffs,” said one source, requesting anonymity. Several long-time employees, some with over 4 years of service, were also laid off in the past few weeks. An AESL spokesperson stated, “As a high-performance organization, our performance reviews, talent development interventions, and consequence management follow a biannual cycle. We are introducing new business models as part of the Aakash 2.0 strategy, which includes creating new roles, consolidating existing ones, and aggressively hiring new talent. Unlike other players in the category, we expect to be net hirers by the end of this year.” The spokesperson did not disclose the specific number of employees affected by the layoffs. This marks the first instance of layoffs at Aakash since its acquisition by Byju’s in April 2021, when the Bengaluru-based edtech giant spent around $940 million to acquire the company. However, the Chaudhry family, founders of AESL, refused to swap their remaining stake, citing governance concerns. Earlier this year, both companies withdrew their merger petition, continuing to operate independently under the Think and Learn brand. In April, Aakash appointed Deepak Mehrotra as its managing director and chief executive officer. The company is expected to surpass Rs 2,300 crore in operating revenue in FY23, according to its valuation report, though it has yet to file audited financial statements for FY23 and FY24.

TikTok lays off hundreds, intensifies focus on AI for moderation

LivemintLivemint · 9m ago
TikTok lays off hundreds, intensifies focus on AI for moderation
Medial

- TikTok is laying off hundreds of employees worldwide, including a significant number in Malaysia, to enhance content moderation through AI. - Fewer than 500 employees in Malaysia are affected by the layoffs, primarily from the content moderation teams. - TikTok aims to strengthen its moderation model by investing $2 billion globally in trust and safety initiatives, with 80% of content violations currently being removed through AI systems. - The layoffs come as TikTok faces increased scrutiny in Malaysia due to stricter regulations and a surge in harmful online content. - ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, is reassessing regional operations and may consider further retrenchments globally in the future.

Zomato lays off 600 employees: Report

EntrackrEntrackr · 3m ago
Zomato lays off 600 employees: Report
Medial

Zomato lays off 600 employees: Report Zomato has reportedly given pink slips to as many as 600 customer support associates within a year of hiring them. This comes at a time when the food and grocery delivery major is witnessing slowing growth in its core food delivery vertical and mounting losses in its quick commerce arm, Blinkit. Moneycontrol was the first to report this development. Zomato had hired around 1,500 employees under its Zomato Associate Accelerator Program (ZAAP) a year ago for customer support roles, offering them the opportunity to be elevated to positions across sales, operations, program management, support, supply chain, and category teams within a year. However, a large number of these contractual workers did not receive renewals at the end of their tenures. The report added that Zomato’s affected workers were offered one month’s salary as compensation and were terminated without any notice period, citing reasons such as poor performance, lack of punctuality, among others. Entrackr has reached out to Zomato for comments.

Download the medial app to read full posts, comements and news.