EV maker and shared mobility company Bounce has laid off 3–4 per cent of its almost 700 people workforce as part of company restructuring and the company’s increased focus on EV manufacturing business.
The majority of the impacted employees are from the support functions of the shared-mobility team. Commenting on the reason for the layoffs, a Bounce spokesperson said, “We have been focusing on the OEM business for a while now, and the ride-sharing business has been on pause. Once we launch our new scooter model for the ride-sharing business, we will restart the ride-sharing vertical.”
He added that this is the reason for team restructuring and the moving of the majority of shared mobility employees to the OEM (original equipment manufacturing) team. The Sequoia-backed start-up launched its Bounce Infinity E1 e-scooters in December 2021 and started deliveries in April 2022.
Bounce has also been investing significantly in building the EV infrastructure in the country, by building a network of its battery swapping stations. As part of this initiative, Bounce has partnered with multiple players, such as Greaves Retail, BattRE, Bharat Petroleum, and NoBroker, among others.
Bounce is backed by marquee investors such as Accel India, Accel US, Sequoia Capital India, B Capital, Falcon Edge, Qualcomm, Chirate, Omidyar Network, Maverick Capital, etc., and has raised over $220 million.