ShareChat Layoffs: Social media company cut about 800 employees in 2023

ShareChat, a homegrown social media platform, let go of about 800 employees in 2023 in two separate cost-cutting exercises. The latest cut includes about 200 employees, amounting to 15 percent of its current workforce. These measures were initiated in a bid to cut costs and achieve profitability within the next four to six quarters.

The company is currently in the process of securing about $50 million in new funding, valuing the company at under $1.5 billion, a significant drop from the $4.9 billion valuation at which ShareChat raised funding early last year.

The Snap and X-backed company said on December 20 that it "undertook a strategic restructuring as part of its annual planning for the year 2024. The decision reflects the company's commitment to streamlining its cost base and achieving profitability within the next 4-6 quarters."

“In alignment with our strategic vision, the company undertook a comprehensive restructuring effort to streamline operations, enhance productivity, and position the company for sustainable growth. As a result, the organization has moved to a flatter org structure and prioritized product initiatives that resulted in a reduction in team sizes by roughly 15 percent,” the company added.

In January 2023, Mohalla Tech-owned ShareChat's co-founders Farid Ahsan and Bhanu Pratap Singh stepped down from executive roles at the company, a week after firing close to 600 employees.

Ahsan and Singh recently raised $3 million in seed funding from venture capital firms India Quotient, Elevation Capital and high-profile angel investors for a robotics startup General Autonomy.

ShareChat was founded in 2015 by three IIT Kanpur alumni- Ankush Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan, and Bhanu Singh and was an early player in regional language content. It launched Moj in June 2020, following the TikTok ban.