Dukaan

In July 2023, Indian e-commerce startup Dukaan laid off 90% of its customer support team, a drastic workforce reduction driven by the company's shift toward prioritizing profitability amid economic challenges. The cuts were part of a move to replace human staff with an AI chatbot named Lina, which founder and CEO Suumit Shah defended on Twitter, citing significant operational improvements. The AI implementation reportedly slashed customer support costs by about 85% and reduced resolution times from over two hours to just minutes. While the exact number of employees affected wasn't specified, the scale of the layoffs highlights the intense pressure on startups to achieve financial sustainability, even at the cost of significant job losses in favor of automation.

Retail tech startup Dukaan has laid off approximately 56 employees, representing about 30% of its workforce, in its second round of job cuts within six months. The layoffs, confirmed by founder Suumit Shah earlier this week, primarily affected inside sales teams and account managers. This restructuring is due to a strategic shift in the company's focus from serving small and medium businesses (SMBs) to helping direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands scale up. The Bengaluru-based, Lightspeed-backed startup, which raised $12.4 million in a pre-Series A round in 2021, offered a two-month salary severance package to impacted employees. This move reflects broader trends in the Indian startup ecosystem, where companies have laid off around 23,000 employees since 2022 amid a funding winter.

In September 2022, the SaaS-based e-commerce platform Dukaan laid off 23 employees. This decision was part of a strategic shift by the Bengaluru-based startup, which moved its focus from serving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to targeting direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands and enterprises. Founder Suumit Shah explained that roles in areas like live chat support became less critical after this pivot and due to increased automation. While the exact percentage of staff affected is unclear as the total employee count was not disclosed, the layoffs reflect the company's realignment within the competitive e-commerce enablement industry, following its $11 million Pre-Series A funding round in 2021.