'Build technology, not deploy humans': Meesho co-founder outlines automation-first plan as IPO kicks off

As Meesho Ltd. readies its public market debut this month, the e-commerce company is doubling down on automation and cloud infrastructure to curb its dependence on human labour, even as it scales.

In an interview, Sanjeev Kumar, Meesho's co-founder and chief technology officer, said the company intends to keep headcount largely steady despite rising order volumes. "We'll continue to build technology to solve problems without deploying a lot of humans," he said.

According to its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) filed with securities regulator, Sebi, Meesho has set aside Rs 1,390 crore for investments in cloud infrastructure over the next three years and Rs 480 crore for salaries across its machine-learning, AI and technology teams, The company employs roughly 2000 people, about 57% of whom work in engineering, data science, AI product roles.

"This trajectory will continue to be the same. I don't see us growing headcount a lot, because we've always used technology to solve problems," said Kumar. The company's spending on employee benefits remains significantly lower than that of other consumer internet rivals.

The Softbank-backed company recorded Rs 848 crore in annual employee benefit expenses in fiscal 2025, compared with Eternal's Rs 2,558 crore and Swiggy's Rs 2,548.86 crore.

However, the employee cost remains higher when compared with domestic peer Walmart-owned Flipkart. The company logged Rs 469.8 crore in fiscal 2024, according to the data sourced from Tracxn. Amazon India's cloud business reported Rs 1,901 crore, an 8% decline from the previous year.

Kumar said Meesho has increased its projected cloud spending as server costs rise in tandem with the company's expansion. "Server costs and cloud infra expenditure move along with scale--more consumers, and more orders make it broadly proportional," he said. The Bengaluru-headquartered firm has set aside Rs 610 crore each in FY27 and FY28, contributing to the Rs 1,390 crore earmarked for cloud infrastructure--a sharp step-up from its historical annual spending of Rs 427.2 crore in FY24, Rs 454 crore in FY25, and Rs 335 crore in the first half of FY26.

Artificial Intelligence underpins nearly every operational layer of the marketplace, said Kumar. "At this scale, there is no way you can have humans making decisions on what products to list or show customers," he noted, adding that Meesho will continue to deepen investments in AI algorithms for the next few years to support core decision-making. Meesho's IPO opens to anchor investors on Tuesday (December 2), and to retail investors from December 3 to 5, with shares priced between Rs 105 and Rs 111. The company seeks to raise Rs 4,250 crore through a fresh issue, while existing shareholders will sell 10.55 crore shares through an offer-for-sale. The stock is expected to list on December 10.

The Bengaluru-based company has sharply narrowed its losses, with consolidated losses falling 72% to Rs 701 crore in H1 FY26, down from Rs 2,513 crore a year earlier. The platform recorded 1,261 million orders between April and September 2025, with net merchandise value surging to Rs 19,194 crore. Apparel, home & kitchen, and beauty & personal care were the top categories, contributing 34%, 19% and 11% of sales, respectively.