Bengaluru-based consumer credit startup Simpl has announced another round of layoffs, letting go of 30 more employees just a month after firing 160. The company informed the affected employees through one-on-one meetings on Thursday.
This latest round of layoffs follows the departure of three to four senior executives on Wednesday. Vatsal Jain, Vice President of Enterprise Business; Ashwini Ravindranath, Vice President of Partner Success; and Ramkumar Narayanan, Vice President of Product and Operations, have all resigned.
A company spokesperson stated that the decision to lay off 30 employees is part of their efforts to become fiscally prudent and achieve profitability by mid-2025. The affected employees will receive a severance package including a fixed salary for the two-month notice period and 15 days of salary for each year of service with the company.
Simpl has also restructured its leadership team. Vivek Pandey, previously a Senior Vice President in the technology team, has been elevated to Chief Technology Officer. Pandey will also be managing the risk vertical, previously led by CFO Russell Byrne, who will continue in his role and manage the capital markets function. Puneet Singh, Simpl’s current CTO, will now lead the enterprise business and checkout solutions. Khanaz KA will continue to expand Simpl’s direct-to-consumer business and focus on customer experience.
Simpl founder Nitya Sharma stated that the leadership rejig is aimed at accelerating the company’s path to profitability by mid-2025.
Simpl’s financial performance in FY23 showed a significant increase in total income to Rs 96.3 crore, a threefold jump from Rs 32 crore in FY22. However, its losses also widened nearly two-and-a-half times to Rs 356.7 crore from Rs 144.3 crore the previous year.
Employee expenses for Simpl increased 3.5 times to over Rs 139 crore in FY23. According to Tracxn, the company’s employee count was 613 in March 2023, compared to 300 in March 2022. This number was further reduced to 208 in March 2024. Simpl is yet to file its FY24 financials.
Founded in 2015, Simpl has raised over $80 million in equity funding from investors like Valar Ventures and IA Ventures. Their last equity funding round of $40 million was in December 2021. Simpl offers a buy-now-pay-later solution to its users on various platforms like Nykaa, Zepto, Zomato, Goibibo, Meesho, Makemytrip, Myntra, Rapido, and Swiggy. The company claims to have 42 million registered users and partnerships with around 26,000 online merchants.