Bengaluru-based quick commerce firm Dunzo has further deferred the balance payout of June salaries for some of its employees to September 4, 2023.
The salaries of all employees for the month of July and August will be paid on the same date, as per an email sent to employees on Wednesday. In effect, salaries for the month of July will be delayed a month.
YourStory has reviewed a copy of this email sent to employees dated July 19.
Earlier this month, the company had capped the salaries of its senior-level employees to Rs 75,000 for the month of June assuring them that the remaining salary would be paid by July 20.
Dunzo said it is attempting to streamline cash flow in to build a more sustainable business, according to the email. “While we have set September 4 as the date for all pending salary payouts, we are working to resolve this issue at the earliest to minimise the impact on our team members,” the email added.
YourStory has reached out to Dunzo for comments on the development. This story will be updated to reflect its response.
According to media reports, Dunzo is likely to resort to a second round of layoffs this month after it let go of nearly 300 employees—30% of its strength—earlier this year. In April, CEO Kabeer Biswas said in a townhall that the company was looking at making a change in the business model.
The Economic Times reported earlier this week that the quick commerce startup is looking to raise close to $20 million from Reliance Retail, after it fell short of its target to raise $75 million by offering convertible notes.
Dunzo had last raised $75 million in convertible notes, with the lion’s share coming from returning investors, Google and Reliance Retail. Reliance Retail holds close to 25.56% share in the company while Google holds about 18.53%, according to Tracxn, making them the largest shareholders in the company.
The quick commerce venture was valued at $757 million as of May 2022, according to data research platform Tracxn, and has raised $497 million to date in equity investment.
The company’s main line of business is its B2C (business to consumer) grocery delivery service, Dunzo Daily, which competes with Zomato-backed Blinkit and Zepto, apart from Swiggy’s grocery delivery service Instamart.
In FY 2022, Dunzo Daily contributed nearly 90% of the company’s revenues, however, the vertical has been struggling. Dunzo shut down operations for the service across all cities—barring Pune and Bengaluru—earlier this year.
Dunzo earned Rs 54.3 crore in revenue from operations in FY22, largely from its online platform services. On the other hand, its net loss more than doubled from Rs 229.1 crore in FY21 to Rs 464 crore in FY22.
(The copy was updated to reflect that Dunzo’s earlier deadline for payout of June balance salaries was June 20, not June 15)
Edited by Akanksha Sarma
