SUMMARY
Earlier this week, the startup had parted ways with around 20% as it shifts its resource allocation to GTM (go-to-market)
In May 2023, the startup had laid off around 30% of the workforce across teams
To date, the startup has raised around $50 Mn in funding across multiple funding rounds
Prosus-backed virtual events platform Airmeet laid off around 20% of its entire workforce earlier this week, as part of its second restructuring exercise within a year, people aware of the matter informed Inc42 on the condition of anonymity.
The layoffs have impacted across the departments, with tech team hit the worst.
Confirming the development of layoff, Lalit Mangal, cofounder and CEO of Airmeet, said, “We have been quite aggressive in our R&D investments throughout the journey as a company in building a product which competes and regularly wins high value contracts against incumbents like Zoom and MS teams. We now have strong signs of product superiority and maturity, hence we decided to shift resource allocation to GTM to continue to grow in a financially healthy way.”
The fresh layoffs have come almost 10 months after the startup had let go of around 30% of its 250-300 people workforce, or at least 75 employees in May 2023.
Back then, the layoffs impacted multiple teams, including sales, marketing, tech and operations. Besides India, employees working in the US, Europe and other regions, were also impacted.
Founded in 2019 by Mangal, Vinay Kumar Jasti and Manoj Kumar Singh, Airmeet is an online meeting and event hosting platform. It allows participants to also connect with other attendees for one-to-one and one-to-many online interactions.
In February 2022, the startup raised $35 Mn in its Series B funding from new investors Prosus Ventures, Sistema Asia Fund, RingCentral Ventures, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, DG Daiwa Ventures and Nexxus Global. The round also saw participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Accel India.
Prior to that, the startup bagged $12 Mn in September 2020.
On its website, the startup claims to have worked with over 4,000 organisations, including, Ford, Unilever, PWC and Capgemini, among others.
