Whereas Temasek-backed DeHaat farming market laid off about 5% of its workers final yr, different enterprise capital-backed firms like Bijak, Captain Contemporary, BharatAgri and Gramophone have not too long ago laid off employees, sources inform ET.
The Indore-based founding father of Gramophone sacked round 75 workers throughout November and December final yr to deal with reaching profitability over the following few monetary quarters, co-founder and CEO Tauseef Khan informed ET.
The corporate was earlier within the publish growth mode Raised $10 million in October 2021 From traders like Z3Partners and Data Edge. It at present has about 450 workers.
Captain Contemporary, the meat retail platform powered by Tiger International, has been attempting to maneuver its enterprise from home to worldwide markets since April final yr.
This train resulted in 120 workers dropping their jobs, founder and CEO Utham Gowda informed ET. Firm analysis greater than doubled to $500 million in March 2022, having raised $50 million.
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BharatAgri, which supplies AI-based providers to farmers on a paid subscription foundation, laid off 40 workers in August. The Bengaluru-based firm, which now has 52 workers, attributed the layoffs to a change in the way in which it sells services.Additionally learn: Layoffs unfold from ETtech Morning Dispatch to Dunzo, ShareChat, Insurgent Meals and agritech
Whereas DeHaat mentioned the variety of workers let go final yr was lower than 100 and that the entire layoffs had been primarily based on efficiency and cultural match, Bijak who additionally reduce jobs didn’t reply to ET’s request for remark.
ETtechThe beforehand unreported layoffs got here after a two-year interval of sturdy financing exercise. About 63% of the overall funding capital invested in agritech has been deployed in India thus far prior to now two years, based on a report by funding banking agency Avendus Capital in December.
Whereas 2021 noticed $1.22 billion invested in 45 agritech startups, round $796 million entered 30 agritech startups in 2022.
Why these layoffs?
After invested capital faltered, agritech startups elevated hiring exercise, however now these firms are streamlining their operations.
At BharatAgri, for instance, the corporate had a mannequin the place there was a gross sales workforce that was speaking on to customers to promote subscriptions and merchandise. “Over time, our product has developed in such a method that customers should buy providers and merchandise and not using a telephone name,” founder and CEO Siddharth Dayalani informed ET, explaining the layoffs.
Based mostly in Bengaluru The final time the corporate raised cash was in September 2021 – $6.5 million In a spherical led by Omnivore, with participation from India Quotient and 021 Capital, each of which already personal a stake.
ETtech“We see the present surroundings as a boon for the agritech sector as it would clear up a whole lot of the chaos within the house and with out huge progress pressures a whole lot of firms will come out stronger with higher unit economics,” mentioned Khan of Gramophone.
He added, “Most firms have already taken the proper steps over the previous two quarters and we anticipate the outcomes to start out showing this yr.”
Enterprise mannequin challenges
“Basically, we’re again to pre-pandemic ranges for 2019 for seed rounds, like $2 million to $3 million; there are some exceptions however a number of,” mentioned Mark Kahn, managing associate of Omnivore, when requested concerning the present financing local weather within the sector. For different rounds, he added, pre-money scores are down 33% from their 2021 peak.
Startups within the house are nonetheless discovering preliminary challenges to enterprise fashions, as some have succumbed to an investor-led push to scale gross merchandise worth (GMV) with out an energetic deal with gross margin, based on an trade insider.
GMV is the overall worth of products offered by the corporate, and the gross margin is the quantity left after subtracting the price of items offered from web gross sales.
“When it comes to the enterprise fashions that work in agritech, the enter linkages are doing very effectively, and the output linkages are working very effectively in non-perishable merchandise. In perishables and in branded contemporary produce, they’re solely doing effectively in exports,” he mentioned. Khan. “The entire ‘I purchase greens from farms after which promote them to Kirana’ enterprise mannequin with nothing else is lifeless.”
Elevating capital has been tough prior to now six or eight months. DeHaat’s $60 million elevate in December took a very long time to shut, individuals aware of the matter informed ET.
“We are able to verify that DeHaat’s present valuation after Collection E funding is between $700 million and $800 million, which is about an 80% premium from the earlier funding spherical that occurred lower than 13 months in the past,” an organization spokesperson informed ET.
DeHaat is among the many high agritech startups by income, together with Waycool Meals & Merchandise, which claimed to have posted Rs 1,008 crore in income within the fiscal yr ending March 2022 (FY22).
Learn additionally: 2022 REVIEW: Fund-hungry startups have laid off almost 18,000 workers
DeHaat, primarily based in Patna and Gurgaon, had revenues up 3.6 occasions to Rs 1,274 crore in FY22, based on the spokesperson.
“We’re on monitor to ship greater than double that quantity in FY23… We’re on an exponential progress trajectory with over 2.5 million farmers and 15,000 DIY facilities anticipated by the tip of FY23, which can be 3 occasions the expansion from FY22 Being a well-capitalized group, we purpose to proceed this progress trajectory in FY24 as effectively.”
Dahat mentioned it employed 2,000 individuals till final yr.
“There’s been a whole lot of progress recently and that is why firms are stepping up and hiring extra individuals… Not everybody who’s employed will work on the identical stage, so that you’re hiring little or no, identical to huge firms do and hold,” mentioned Akanksha Malik, founding father of Growth360. , which helps startups rent mid- to senior-level individuals.
Omidyar Community India and Sequoia Surge-backed Bijak have additionally been tightening their insurance policies on advertising and marketing and personnel prices not too long ago, a number of sources informed ET.
Three trade insiders confirmed that PJAC has laid off a number of workers. ET couldn’t confirm the precise variety of layoffs.
Nevertheless, Kahn of Omnivore, an investor in Bijak, denied the allegations and informed ET that Bijak has years of funding left and no motive to chop its workforce.
The corporate operates a B2B agricultural commodity buying and selling market for agricultural suppliers and consumers, a barely busier market inside agritech, competing with the likes of India-backed WayCool Meals and Merchandise Lightrock, Arya-backed Quona Capital, Prosus-backed Vegrow and Walmart-backed Walmart. ninjacart.
“There is no such thing as a dearth of capital to put money into the sector…however the query is what value are traders prepared to pay. That is the place a whole lot of offers get caught,” Hemendra Mathur, enterprise associate at Bharat Innovation Fund and co-founder of ThinkAg, informed ET.
(drawings and illustrations by Rahul Awsti)