Over 200 Workers Are Laid off by Agritech Company Waycool

Nitin Konde, Apoorva Bajj

Jul 29, 2024 — 2 min read

Over 200 Workers Are Laid off by Agritech Company Waycool

To increase its profitability, the agriculture supply chain company Waycool has terminated the employment of more than two hundred people across all departments. This is the third wave of layoffs that have been implemented at the corporation situated in Chennai.

Waycool's businesses are all working hard to put their strategies into action to achieve profitability. A further simplification and automation of roles and structures is included as a component of this. A spokeswoman for Waycool stated that this will be an ongoing procedure at all times.

There was no statement from the corporation regarding the number of employees who were terminated. A total of more than 370 workers were terminated from their positions during the two previous firings, which took place in July 2023 and February of this year respectively.

According to a well-known media outlet, which was the first to report on the news, the layoffs have affected employees in the cities of Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, as well as staff working for the company's two subsidiaries, CensaNext and BrandNext.

Why Did the Company Decide to Initiate This Move?

Waycool was reportedly in the process of negotiating a new round of funding on the order of more than fifty million dollars, which would have resulted in the company's valuation being in the range of $900 million to $1 billion. The negotiations, on the other hand, did not succeed. The company's most recent stock round resulted in a valuation of $700 million.

It is estimated that Waycool has received approximately $160 million in investment at this point from a variety of sources, including Lightrock, International Finance Corporation, FMO, and 57 Stars.

Several headlines in the media earlier this week brought attention to the fact that Waycool was having difficulty scaling and was unable to acquire a fresh round of funding. Even though the company has not yet submitted its annual report for the fiscal year 24 (FY24), it has reported a 62% increase in its operational revenue, which went from INR 772 crore in FY22 to INR 1,251 crore in FY23. The company continued to suffer losses, which increased by 89% to a total of INR 685 crore in the fiscal year 23.

Delayed Payment Hampers Brand Name

The situation has become worse as a result of unfulfilled payment obligations to various vendors, such as millers, logistics partners, and service providers such as SGSs. A report in the media stated that payments to vendors were made rotationally over the previous three months; however, this practice has completely ceased since June because collections from customers have been delayed.

Several times in the past, salaries have been delayed, and the employer has not yet processed the payslip for June. As a result of the drought of funding, the payments from customers have become stalled, as mentioned in a media report.