Swiggy lays off 380 employees ahead of IPO, CEO Sriharsha Majety says a very difficult decision

Foodtech company Swiggy has fired 380 employees as a measure to rationalise business amid a tough venture funding market. The staff was informed of the decision at a town hall on January 20.

CEO and founder Sriharsha Majety, in an email to employees on Friday morning, said, "We're implementing a very difficult decision to reduce the size of our team as a part of a restructuring exercise. In this process, we will be bidding goodbye to 380 talented Swiggsters. This has been an extremely difficult decision taken after exploring all available options, and I'm extremely sorry to all of you for having to go through with this."

The company said that it would take a harder look at some of its current verticals and will also be shutting down its meat market place, though they will continue to deliver meat through Instamart.

Compensation to employees affected

The employees who will be affected by the layoffs will receive a cash payout of three to six months' salary based on their tenure and their grade. This also includes a 100 per cent payout of incentives, and the joining bonus and retention bonus paid out will be waived. In addition, the annual stock options have also been waived. The company said that the affected employees can participate in the ESOP liquidity programme, which is slated for July 2023.

Other layoffs

This decision by the company comes right after Mohalla Tech, the parent company of ShareChat, fired 600 employees. Swiggy is now part other unicorns like Unacademy, upGrad, and Moglix which have fired a significant number of employees in the first three weeks of this year.