Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) startup Simpl has laid off 150 employees out of its 500-member workforce, citing uncertain macroeconomic conditions, according to sources close to the development who spoke to businessline on the condition of anonymity.
This move is said to have greatly impacted the engineering, product and analytic roles. In a company-wide email, Simpl CEO Nitya Sharma said, “the world is now changing, e-commerce growth has slowed down in the near terms and we need to focus on doing a few things that our customers value extremely well. While we cannot fix the past, we have to take this corrective action to position the company for a stronger future.” Businessline has reviewed the email.
The email also noted that the company would help affected employees with financial, healthcare and outplacement support. Sharma also assured the staff that there would be no further team rationalisations. However, he added that Simpl had hired aggressively in 2022 as it felt confident of tackling the complex problems facing e-commerce growth.
Commenting on this development, a Simpl spokesperson said, “In-lieu of the current economic condition and preparing for the new economic reality, we’ve re-looked our headcount towards becoming a leaner and agile organisation. We are sincerely grateful to the employees for their valuable contribution.
“We are committed to supporting them during this transition and are offering a generous severance package along with healthcare support, outplacement and counselling support. We continue to remain committed to millions of our customers, merchants and partners in empowering them and creating a shared value for everyon.” Entrackr was the first to report this development