According to sources, ShareChat, an Indian social media unicorn, has fired 20% of its workforce as part of a new wave of layoffs.
Out of the 2,100 employees at the firm, almost 500 will be affected by the layoffs, according to sources.
As part of the severance package, ShareChat will pay a full salary for the notice period, two weeks bonus for each year of employment with the company, and health insurance until June. Employee stock plans will continue to be issued on schedule until April 30, 2023, and employees will retain all issued ESOPs.
ShareChat plans to continue doubling down on boosting advertising and live streaming revenues. “With these changes, we aim to sail through the uncertain global economic conditions over 2023 and 2024 and come out stronger,” the company said in a statement.
The fantasy gaming site Jeet11 was shut down in December by Mohalla Tech, the company that owns ShareChat. This round impacted over 115 workers.
Mohalla Tech, which was founded in 2015 by Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan, and Bhanu Pratap Singh, raised $520 million in June at a valuation of $5 billion.
In addition to ShareChat, Mohalla Tech also manages the ephemeral video app Moj. The Mohalla Tech ecosystem, which includes both applications, has one of the highest monthly active user bases of any Indian social networking platform at 400 million.
