More tech start-ups in Southeast Asia laid off workers this year, as macro headwinds widened losses and venture capitalists pushed start-ups to extend their runways.
In a report by CNBC yesterday (Dec 8), online marketplace Carousell announced that it was letting go about 10% of its headcount — or approximately 110 positions.
It said that in November, Indonesia’s GoTo Group — a merger between ride-hailing giant Gojek and e-commerce marketplace Tokopedia — cut 1,300 jobs or about 12% of its headcount.
Both companies cited challenging macroeconomic conditions.
The report said the companies join Sea Group and other companies in the region in downsizing their headcount.
Sea Group laid off more than 7,000 employees over the past six months.
Singapore-based e-commerce brand aggregator Rainforest co-founder and CEO Chai Jia Jih, told CNBC that founders are being prudent by managing costs in this environment to ensure there is sufficient runway until late 2024.
“There are signs that we are entering into a recession, if we are not already in one.
“Therefore, customer demand is likely to be slower in 2023,” said Chai.
CNBC reported that in a note to Carousell’s employees, CEO Quek Siu Rui acknowledged that “critical mistakes” were made.
He said he was “too optimistic” about the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, and underestimated the impact of growing his team too quickly.
“The reality is that we were quick to grow our expenses and hire, but the returns took longer than expected,” said Quek, adding that there have been cost-cutting measures in the past few months and Carousell’s leadership will take voluntary pay cuts.
