Dailyhunt parent VerSe to lay off 350 employees this month in push for profitability
VerSe Innovation
is laying off 350 employees this month as it plans to accelerate investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and streamline operations, it said on Saturday.
As part of this strategic transformation, the company will use AI to automate several manual processes to 'increase operational efficiency', according to a press statement.
The Bengaluru-based company is taking these steps to achieve profitability by the end of this financial year.
With these layoffs, VerSe Innovation joins other content-led startups that have reduced their headcount this year. This includes Google-backed vernacular media platform ShareChat, which laid off
5% of its workforce in January
, and Lightspeed-backed Pocket FM that
let go of 75 employees
amid a push for profitability.
'VerSe Innovation has been undergoing a strategic transformation to build a more agile, focussed, and future-ready organisation…To build a more future-ready organisation where talent is cross-leveraged across business units and resources are directed towards growth segments, the company will streamline its workforce by approximately 350 roles this month,' it said.
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'Building on this momentum, VerSe Innovation projects over 75% revenue growth in FY25, outpacing the anticipated 10-15% growth rate of the Indian digital advertising sector,' the company said. 'Operational and structural efficiencies and a focus on growth drivers are actions directed to make the company profitable by the end of this fiscal year.'
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The development was first reported by digital publication Entrackr.
The current layoffs come two and a half years after the company had to let go of 150 employees as a cost-cutting measure.
In the financial year 2024, VerSe Innovation's operating revenue stood at Rs 1,029 crore, down 6.7% from Rs 1,104 crore in FY23. The net loss for FY24 dropped 54% to Rs 889 crore.
Last month, VerSe Innovation's auditor had flagged certain
internal control weaknesses
during the company's audit report for fiscal 2024. In its audit report, Deloitte also said that these material weaknesses did not impact its opinion on the consolidated financials.
VerSe is backed by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund, James Murdoch's private investment firm Lupa Systems, and Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners) and has raised over $2 billion in funding since its inception.
It had last
raised $805 million in a funding round
led by CPPIB, valuing the company at $5 billion.
In addition to the news aggregator platform Dailyhunt, Verse Innovation also runs the short video app Josh, which was launched in 2020 after the central government banned Chinese social media company TikTok's operations in India.
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