Digital lending platform Rupeek lays off 180 employees

BENGALURU: Digital lending platform Rupeek has laid off close to 180 employees. In recent times, many start-ups such as Vedantu, Unacademy and Meesho have laid off their employees citing macro conditions and inflation.

In an internal note, Rupeek founder Sumit Maniyar said, "We have taken the decision to part ways with 10-15 per cent of our colleagues and friends. Globally, all the emerging markets including India are facing an extraordinary situation that has been caused owing to rising inflation, a hike in US treasury rates, and the Russia-Ukraine war."

Rupeek has close to 1,200 employees, and it clocked an annual run rate of $1 billion in loan disbursals in December last year.

Maniyar said the subdued macroeconomic environment has compelled us to re-calibrate our strategy, relook at our costs and make our organisation structure leaner, so as to support our sustenance and growth.

"While this restructuring was imperative, we are yet to ascertain when the industry will hit normalcy and recover fully. However, the gold loan industry continues to grow stronger than before, and our business model is structurally well placed to continue growing at a healthy speed," he said.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company has grown over 2X in the last 2 quarters. It is currently present in over 35 cities and its investors include Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Bertelsmann, GGV Capital, VEF and Lightbox.