[GTO]

Watch your money & avoid this company, guys! They just laid off 90% of their staff.

Bengaluru-based startup Bounce, which earlier launched the first electric scooter with a swappable battery in India, has laid off close to 300 employees. This has brought the head count at the company down to roughly 50 to 70 employees.

Bounce employees who got laid off told India Today Tech that more than 200 employees working on a contractual basis and close to 100 full-time employees have been sacked to cut down on costs. Only founders and senior management in accounts, sales and service are retained in the team. Earlier it was believed that the startup was in a major financial crunch and was struggling to keep the EV business afloat. However, the mass layoffs come at a time when the company is about to raise a fresh $7 million in bridge funding.

[bijims]

Originally Posted by GTO

Watch your money & avoid this company, guys! They just laid off 90% of their staff.

There's always a fair share of risk involved when you are investing in a product from a startup company, especially when it comes to making long-term purchases, you never know when the company will pack up. (Not that established companies aren't packing up, but at least they have the courtesy to continue to provide after-sales)

[GTO]

Mod Note: Bounce announcement moved to a new post!

[Asoon]

Venture Capital Markets are difficult now, especially for the ones having large burn rates, Covid killed their primary business and they pivoted to EV. But with the valuation scale they have they need to raise a large amount at significant valuation,

Their pre Covid valuation was close to 700M dollars, now investors who have put in money for this valuation will not agree for a down-round / reduction in the price of shares

One way is to raise at a higher valuation which is impossible because business was valued on business model A which is non existant and model B's scale is too low to justify revenue multiples

Hence the option left is to extend runway to ensure Model B reaches a decent scale , which means cutting down cost from wherever possible, this is happening now

[zaks]

Bounce/Vogo, I really don't know what kind of projections these people are giving to the VCs that show them to be profitable over 5/7 years time frame. I think this business model is too specific and susceptible to market regulations and very price sensitive in the first place to make it a profitable venture. The kind of users it was attracting would never pay the kind of money these people need to make profits or even to breakeven. And with new hybrid WFH going everywhere they are almost dead.

Just another case of a half baked idea fishing for dollar money and getting it.

[ReventonLover]

Originally Posted by bijims

There's always a fair share of risk involved when you are investing in a product from a startup company, especially when it comes to making long-term purchases, you never know when the company will pack up. (Not that established companies aren't packing up, but at least they have the courtesy to continue to provide after-sales)

Product is a key factor in deciding the outcome of the stability of the venture. Case in point, take Ather. They are in the market for a long time and have established their product in the market. Factor in the flex fuel technology that their ICE counterparts are trying to pursue. This might change the strategic feasibility of the product as well.