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Indian ride-hailing giant Ola cuts 180 jobs in profitability push | TechCrunch

April 29, 2024 6:18 PM0


Ola has let go its chief executive officer Hemant Bakshi, merely four months after making the appointment, and is cutting about 180 jobs, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The move from the Indian ride-hailing startup is aimed at “improving profitability,” its founder Bhavish Aggarwal told employees in an email Monday seen by TechCrunch.

The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which counts SoftBank and Tiger Global among its backers, is undergoing a “restructuring exercise” to gear up for its “next phase of growth,” Aggarwal, pictured above, wrote in the email.

The move follows Ola shutting down its operations in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand earlier this month. Bakshi, a former HUL executive, was appointed as Ola chief executive in January this year.

Ola is looking to go public later this year, months after the public debut of Ola Electric, a startup that spun out of the ride-hailing firm. Both the startups were founded by Aggarwal, who has since also founded the AI startup Krutrim, which became a unicorn in January. Ola Electric is seeking to raise more than $650 million in its initial public offering, according to paperwork filed by the firm.

You can read Aggarwal’s Monday email to staff in its entirety below.

Dear All,

In line with our vision to serve 1 Billion Indians, and our commitment to drive sustainable growth and enhance efficiency across the organization, we are undergoing a restructuring exercise aimed at improving profitability and preparing ourselves for the next phase of growth.

We have made substantial investments in areas of AI & Technology which has led to significant cost advantages and we will continue to focus on these areas to ensure that we build cutting edge products and services across our business verticals.

These changes will result in certain roles within the company becoming redundant. This decision was not made lightly, and we are committed to supporting those impacted during this transition period.

Hemant will be stepping down from his role as CEO to pursue opportunities outside the company. We extend our gratitude to Hemant for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavors.

I am very confident of the strong leadership team which we have built over the last few years at Ola Consumer, who bring in a lot of experience and expertise to their respective roles. They will collaborate closely with me to drive technology-led growth.

We are committed to transparency and open communication throughout this process. Our HR team would be available to address any queries or concerns you may have.

Thank you for your unwavering dedication and commitment to Ola.

Best,
Bhavish


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Robotic Automations

Health insurance giant Kaiser notifies millions of a data breach | TechCrunch

April 26, 2024 1:19 AM0


U.S. health conglomerate Kaiser is notifying millions of its members of a data breach earlier this month.

In a legally required notice filed with the U.S. government on April 12 but made public on Thursday, the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan confirmed that 13.4 million residents had information taken in a data breach.

The notice did not share the specific nature of the data breach, describing the incident only as “unauthorized access/disclosure” involving a network server.

U.S. organizations covered under the health privacy law known as HIPAA are required to notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of data breaches involving protected health information, such as medical data and patient records. Kaiser also notified California’s attorney general of the data breach, but did not provide any further details.

Kaiser spokesperson Catherine Hernandez did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The Kaiser Foundation Health Plan is the parent organization of several entities that make up Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest healthcare organizations in the United States. The Kaiser Foundation Health Plan provides health insurance plans to employers and reported 12.5 million members as of the end of 2023.

The breach at Kaiser is listed on the Department of Health and Human Services’ website as the largest confirmed health-related data breach of 2024 so far.

It’s unclear if the breach at Kaiser is related to the ongoing recovery at U.S. health tech giant Change Healthcare, which was hit by ransomware in February. Earlier this week, Change Healthcare’s parent company UnitedHealth Group said that the criminal hackers stole sensitive health information on a “substantial proportion of people in America,” but fell short of providing a clear figure.

Do you know more about the data breach at Kaiser? To contact this reporter, get in touch on Signal and WhatsApp at +1 646-755-8849, or by email. You can also send files and documents via SecureDrop.


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Swiggy, the Indian food delivery giant, seeks $1.25 billion in IPO after receiving shareholder approval | TechCrunch

April 25, 2024 11:17 AM0


Swiggy plans to raise $1.25 billion in an initial public offering and has secured approval from its shareholders, the Indian food delivery and instant commerce startup disclosed in a filing to the local regulator.

The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which competes with publicly-listed Zomato and StepStone Group-backed Zepto, plans to raise $450 million through issuance of new shares and offer $800 million of shares from existing backers in the IPO, it wrote in a filing to Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The Indian startup ecosystem has been eagerly anticipating Swiggy’s public debut, which is slated for later this year. Swiggy counts Prosus, Accel, SoftBank and Invesco among its backers. It was last valued at $10.7 billion in a funding round unveiled in early 2022. Some of its investors, including Invesco and Baron, have since publicly marked up the valuation of Swiggy to over $12 billion.

Swiggy had earlier intended to go public in 2023, TechCrunch previously reported, but deferred the plan due to not-so-favorable market conditions.

This is a developing story. More to follow.


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Robotic Automations

Indian audio giant boAt says it's investigating suspected customer data breach | TechCrunch

April 17, 2024 5:44 AM0


India’s largest audio and wearables brand boAt is investigating a possible data breach after hackers advertised a cache of alleged customer data online.

A sample of alleged customer data was uploaded on a known cybercrime forum, which includes full names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses and order numbers. A portion of the data that TechCrunch reviewed appears genuine based on checks against exposed phone numbers.

The hacker said the breach happened in March, which led to the compromise of the data of more than 7.5 million customers.

In a statement emailed to TechCrunch, boAt said it was investigating the matter but did not disclose specifics.

“boAt is aware of recent claims regarding a potential data leak involving customer information. We take these claims seriously and have immediately launched a comprehensive investigation. At boAt, safeguarding customer data is our top priority,” the company said.

The leaked data includes references to Shopify. Indian outlet Athenil reported that the alleged hackers claimed the data was obtained by using credentials stolen from boAt’s systems.

boAt, which counts Warburg Pincus and South Lake Investment among its key investors, leads the market of wireless earbuds in India with nearly 34% share, according to data provided by IDC. boAt also dominates India’s wearables market, boasting some 26% of the market share.

In 2022, boAt, which was valued at $300 million in its Series B round of $100 million 2021, filed for its IPO to raise up to $266 million. The brand, however, postponed its public listing plans after seeing a slowdown in the public market.


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Robotic Automations

Indian ride-hailing giant Ola quits UK, Australia and NZ in international pullback | TechCrunch

April 17, 2024 4:43 AM0


Indian ride-hailing giant Ola is shutting down its operations in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, six years after expanding to international markets, as it shifts focus to shoring up its domestic business ahead of an initial public offering.

An Ola spokesperson told TechCrunch that the SoftBank-backed ride-hailing startup sees “immense opportunity for expansion in India,” where it operates in hundreds of cities and offers a range of transportation options, including two-wheelers.

“With this clear focus, we’ve reassessed our priorities and have decided to shut down our overseas ride-hailing business in its current form in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand,” the spokesperson added.

Valued at $7.3 billion in 2021, Ola is among the most high-profile startups in India and is backed by some of the biggest names, including Temasek, Tiger Global and Warburg Pincus. The startup plans to file for an initial public offering after the public listing of Ola Electric, the electric two-wheeler brand in India that spun out of Ola.

Ola Electric is looking to raise $662 million from its IPO in India, according to paperwork it filed late last year.

Ola and Uber, its chief rival in India, slowed their domestic expansion during the pandemic and have since largely focused on improving their unit economics. The two firms have explored merging businesses in recent years, but have been unable to reach an agreement. Both continue to insist publicly that they have no interest in partnering with the rival. (Uber sold its Indian food delivery business to local giant Zomato in early 2020.)

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi recently told Indian daily Economic Times that the ride-hailing app’s market share has never been higher in the South Asian market.

“While (rival) Ola focuses on other areas … we love the ride-sharing business. We also continue to expand into new categories and are dedicated to sustainability. Some of our competitors are distracted by shiny, new efforts and IPOs; that’s great. I’m undistracted and completely focused on the mobility business here as there’s an enormous amount of upside for us and our positioning has never been better,” the Economic Times quoted Khosrowshahi as saying.


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Robotic Automations

African B2B e-commerce giant Wasoko marked down to $260M after VC halves stake | TechCrunch

April 12, 2024 1:50 PM0


VNV Global, a Swedish investment firm that backs startups in mobility, health and marketplaces, slashed the value of its holding in Wasoko, an African B2B e-commerce startup, by 48%, according to its annual report for 2023.

In the report, VNV set Wasoko’s fair value at around $260 million as of December 2023, the month that Wasoko announced its planned merger with its Egyptian counterpart, MaxAB. The valuation is based on VNV’s 4.2% stake in the startup, which VNV values at $10.9 million.

This is not VNV’s first markdown for Wasoko. In Q4 2022, it valued Wasoko at $501 million, just months after the eight-year-old startup closed a $125 million Series B investment co-led by Tiger Global and Avenir at a $625 million valuation. That round was complicated for other reasons, too: Wasoko disclosed to TechCrunch in December 2023 that it received only $113 million of the total funding raised in that round. VNV Global invested $20 million in that funding round.

VNV Global attributes its fair value estimate to a valuation model based on trading multiples of public peers rather than historical funding rounds.

“Wasoko is proud to have VNV Global as one of our major investors,” the Tiger-backed company told TechCrunch in response to the new development. “VNV has not reduced its shareholding in Wasoko whatsoever and continues to remain active and supportive of the company, including through our landmark merger with MaxAB. Wasoko is not involved in VNV’s internal reporting but sees VNV’s continued holdings of Wasoko as a clear signal of expected long-term value growth.”

The report from VNV Global, which also backs Blablacar and Gett, preceded the MaxAB merger announcement. The investment firm — previously known as Vostok New Ventures, which backed a number of Russian startups (and from which it has now divested) — said it plans to hold on to its stake in Wasoko post-merger. “With VNV’s permanent capital structure, we are typically very long-term investors (our best investments have all been 10+ years of holdings) and believe the combined company has the potential to become a very sizeable and valuable business over the coming years,” the firm’s spokesperson said in an email to TechCrunch.

Two of Africa’s largest B2B e-commerce platforms, MaxAB and Wasoko, in merger talks

As one of Africa’s largest B2B grocery marketplaces, Nairobi-based Wasoko secures agreements with major suppliers like P&G and Unilever, bypassing intermediaries and offering goods at competitive prices. Founded by Daniel Yu in 2014, the company experienced consistent growth, expanding from Kenya to six additional African markets by 2022. During this period, Wasoko reported $300 million in gross merchandise value (GMV) on an annualized basis. By 2023, it boasted a customer base of over 200,000 small retailers using its app to order groceries and household items on-demand for their respective stores.

B2C e-commerce is a tiny proportion of retail across Africa, less than 1% according to this study from Mastercard. (Point of comparison: In the U.S. last quarter, e-commerce was 15.6% of all retail sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.) But physical retailers need to source goods, and e-commerce has proven to be a very popular channel for that. Funding and interest in B2B startups took off in the last decade and saw a bump in the wake of COVID-19.

But more recently, B2B e-commerce startups’ business models have come under pressure: Challenging unit economics and high costs have made profit elusive, and funding has been especially constrained in developing markets, shortening startups’ runways even more. African startups, including B2B e-commerce platforms like Wasoko, have followed the same playbook as their counterparts farther afield: layoffs, cost cuts, and closures are not uncommon.

Wasoko was among those hit. In recent times, it has pivoted its focus from aggressive expansion to profitability, implementing cost-saving measures accordingly.

In the lead-up to its merger with MaxAB, Wasoko shuttered hubs in Senegal and Ivory Coast and laid off staff in Kenya. Between December 2023, when the companies announced the merger, and March of this year, Wasoko parted ways with key executives and let go off several employees to streamline overlap with MaxAB’s business structure. Operations were also temporarily halted in Uganda and Zambia (in which Wasoko expanded in Q2 2023), local media TechCabal reported.

Meanwhile, Wasoko also offers financial services to its merchants, and it continues to operate in its three largest GMV markets — Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. It has said that it expects to finalize its merger with Cairo-based MaxAB by the end of this month.

For its part, MaxAB has also been on a bumpy road to consolidation. It operates a food and grocery B2B e-commerce platform in Egypt and Morocco, expanding to the latter following its acquisition of YC-backed WaystoCap in 2021.

But despite raising over $100 million from Silver Lake, British International Investment, and others, MaxAB found itself in financial peril last year.

The structure of the new combined entity still remains unclear, but MaxAB and Wasoko anticipate that together they will be able to offer a fresh lifeline to their pursuit to lead the continent’s B2B e-commerce industry profitably.

Got a news tip or inside information about a topic we covered? We’d love to hear from you. You can reach me at [email protected]. Or you can drop us a note at [email protected]. Happy to respect anonymous requests.

MaxAB gets an extra $15M, acquires YC-backed Moroccan startup WaystoCap


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