Real estate services portal Housing.com is reportedly cutting 200 jobs this month in a fresh round of layoffs amid growing pressure to meet the cost reduction targets set by its stakeholders.
In its last round of layoffs, the company had fired 600 employees as a part of restructuring its noncore operations to trim its escalating costs. It had shutdown commercial properties, short stays and land businesses in its previous restructuring move.
But now, the layoffs by the Mumbai-based firm will impact many of its departments including product, marketing and operations, sources familiar with the matter told The Economic Times.
"The focus is to control cash burn," an investor in the company explained.
"Unlike the last restructuring round where people were asked to leave because businesses were being shut down, this time the company is laying off without solid ground," said a senior Housing executive requesting anonymity.
The latest layoff move comes at a time when the company is about to finalise a bridge round of funding to be led by Soft-Bank, according to sources.
The funding will enable the Japanese investor, which currently has 32% stake, to gain a majority stake in the company.
Founded in 2012, the valuation of Housing.com stood at Rs.1,500 crore ($250 million) during its last round of funding, which saw an investment of $90 million from SoftBank in November last year. Helion Ventures, Nexus Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures are the other investors in the online real estate service provider.
In July, the company had appointed its chief operating officer Rishabh Gupta as the interim chief executive officer of the company. Gupta, a former employee of domestic e-commerce firm Flipkart, had managed the company effectively during the controversies faced by Housing.com earlier this year.
