SoftBank-backed Ola plans to cut about 200 jobs in its tech teams in the coming days, on track to cut its workforce by more than 1,200 this year, as the driving giant streamlines its operations to improve finances.
The company has sparked another wave of layoffs affecting the technical teams of its food and ride hailing business. An Ola spokesperson said the layoff will impact fewer than 200 jobs, accounting for 10% of the company’s engineering team.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, valued at more than $7 billion and backed by Temasek and Warburg Pincus, has experimented with a number of businesses in recent years, including food delivery and fast commerce, but has shifted most of its focus to Ola Electric, technically an independent startup that produces electric scooters.
Ola said in a statement that it currently employs about 2,000 people and aims to expand its pool of technical talent to 5,000 over the next 18 months.
“In light of these efforts, the company is centralizing operations and conducting a restructuring exercise to minimize redundancy and build a strong side structure that strengthens relevant roles and functions,” a startup spokesperson said in a statement.
The startup, whose founder has barely talked about the marquee ride-hailing service in a year and bought his brother’s fintech startup Avail Finance through the company in March, is also struggling to boost sales of its electric vehicles, according to government data. to let grow.
Monday’s layoff adds to a growing list of job losses in the Indian startup ecosystem this year, where more than 10,000 jobs have been eliminated this year, in part due to the downturn in the market.
