28,000 and counting: That’s the 2023 layoff data from startup land

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

2023, as startups went ahead with major restructuring to conserve cash and prioritise verticals essential for continued operations, amid a persistent funding winter.

Startups have been the worst hit this year since the highs of aggressive hiring from 2021, data from Longhouse Consulting shared exclusively with ET showed. These companies fired more than 20,000 in 2022 and 4,080 in 2021.

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While the data from Longhouse were for the January-September period, the following three months also saw considerable layoffs made by the likes of Udaan, PhysicWallah, Bizongo and Third Wave Coffee.

“The problem may be deeper in startups but we must remember that the overall economy is also being ravaged by high interest rates and inflation, with tech firms getting impacted across the world,” said Anshuman Das, cofounder and chief executive, Longhouse Consulting.

Sectors like edtech, real money gaming and business-to-business ecommerce were the worst impacted by layoffs, while fintech and deep tech were comparatively better off, senior hiring executives told ET. Even well-funded companies in ecommerce took a cautious stand on hiring and appraisals. For example, Flipkart did not give salary increments to the top 30% of its employees including senior leadership this year, while smaller rival Meesho fired about 250 people in May.

Edtech giant Byju’s laid off over around 2,500 employees till October this year, according to data from Longhouse. ET had