Neo-banking startup Open lays off 47, founders take 50% salary cut

Neo-banking platform Open said on Thursday that it cut 47 jobs in a bid to optimise its operations, in the latest of layoffs in the Indian startups sector.

Also, founders of the fintech platform have taken a 50% pay cut, as the company aligns itself to profitability goals, a statement from Open said.

“Our recent staffing changes were driven solely by performance evaluations. We also ensured deserving high performers get 20-30% average hikes and Esops (employee stock options). We are actively hiring across critical functions such as growth marketing, product and sales and are one of the very few startups with visibility on profitability and runway above 30 months to well face the market conditions,” said cofounder and chief executive Anish Achuthan.

“I would like to reiterate that these changes have not impacted the salaries of our current employees in any manner,” Achuthan added.

Before the layoffs, Open had close to 600 employees.

With a global slump and domestic regulations making it harder for Indian fintechs to operate, several of them, such as buy-now-pay-later startups Simpl and ZestMoney, have announced retrenchment exercises over the past weeks.

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In May last year, Open raised $50 million in a round led by IIFL Finance along with participation from existing investors Temasek, Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital. The funding doubled its valuation to over a billion dollars, taking it to the unicorn status.The company had set out to raise $100-150 million as a part of the round, but talks didn’t fructify, as reported by ET earlier. It had previously raised $100 million in a round led by Temasek in October 2021.

Open, founded in 2017, provides small businesses with payroll and accounting tools and integrates with their current account. It competes with the likes of Razorpay X and Niyo.

Open posted a loss of Rs 167.7 crore for fiscal 2022, more than double compared with Rs 65.6 crore the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue rose to Rs 40.9 crore from Rs 5.7 crore in FY21.

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