Mumbai-based Healthtech Startup Lays off More Employees Amid Funding Crunch

The layoffs in API Holdings-run PharmEasy began earlier in June this year when the company had laid off around 40 full-time employees at its electronic medical record subsidiary Docon Technologies. The majority of those laid off were from the sales department, such as business development managers, cluster heads, and area managers.

Mumbai: Indian drug and medical services firm PharmEasy has reportedly laid off more employees from the company amid a funding crunch. As per media report, the mass layoffs are being seen as part of a drive by the unicorn company towards profitability via cost-savings and consolidation. The homegrown healthtech startup was started in 2015 in Mumbai by Dharmil Sheth and Dhaval Shah. The company basically has online marketing platform for medicines, drugs and other health care products.

According to Inc42, the majority of affected employees worked in product technology, quality analytics, and support verticals. Moreover, employees from the overarching technology and design teams were also impacted.

The layoffs were attributed to a variety of factors, including restructuring, macroeconomic headwinds, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to the report.

The layoffs in API Holdings-run PharmEasy began earlier in June this year when the company had laid off around 40 full-time employees at its electronic medical record subsidiary Docon Technologies. The majority of those laid off were from the sales department, such as business development managers, cluster heads, and area managers.

With the layoffs, PharmEasy joins a growing list of startups that have laid off employees as investment shrinks and mindless cash burn comes back to haunt them. Nearly 16,000 employees have been asked to go by about 44 startups, led by companies like BYJU’S, Unacademy, and Vedantu, as VC funding dried up.

Other Indian tech startups and unicorns that have laid off employees include Ola, Cars24, Meesho, LEAD, MPL, Innovaccer, Udaan and more.

Meanwhile, thousands of contractual employees have also been let go, making 2022 the harshest year for workers in the technology sector. Only two startups in India, Shiprocket and OneCard, attained unicorn status (valuation $1 billion and above) in the July-September period, according to the latest PwC India report.