Prosus-backed virtual events platform Airmeet has laid off approximately 20% of its employees, in its second restructuring effort within a year, according to sources familiar with the developments. The layoffs are across various departments, with the technology team bearing the brunt of the reduction.
“We have been quite aggressive in our R&D investments… in building a product which competes and regularly wins high-value contracts against incumbents like Zoom and MS teams. We now have strong signs of product superiority and maturity, hence we decided to shift resource allocation to GTM (go-to-market) to continue to grow in a financially healthy way,” said Lalit Mangal, co-founder and CEO of Airmeet.
The latest round of layoffs comes nearly 10 months after Airmeet downsized its workforce by approximately 30%, affecting around 75 employees out of its total workforce of 250-300. The earlier round, in May 2023, affected multiple teams including sales, marketing, technology, and operations. This included employees from the US, Europe, and India.
Founded in 2019 by Mangal, Vinay Kumar Jasti, and Manoj Kumar Singh, Airmeet specialises in online meeting and event hosting. The platform enables participants to engage in one-to-one and one-to-many online interactions, fostering connections among attendees.In February 2022, Airmeet secured $35 million in Series B funding from new investors such as Prosus Ventures, Sistema Asia Fund, RingCentral Ventures, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, DG Daiwa Ventures, and Nexxus Global.
Existing investors, including Sequoia Capital India and Accel India, also participated in the round. Prior to this, the startup had raised $12 million in September 2020. It claims to have worked with over 4,000 organisations, including prominent names like Ford, Unilever, PWC, and Capgemini.