Jan 20, 2023

Share story Layoffs have impacted employees across departments including sales, marketing, tech, product, and operations, among others The layoffs took place almost an year after the startup raised $125 Mn in its Series C round In FY22, MediBuddy’s loss soared by 2.4X to INR 249 Cr from INR 102.7 Cr in FY21 Telemedicine startup MediBuddy has laid off around 200 employees earlier this week. The Bengaluru-based startup has let go of its employees across departments. Inc42 sources have informed that the layoffs were sudden. The teams that were most impacted by the layoffs were tech, product, sales, and operations teams. MediBuddy had a total employee count of more than 2,400 members. The fresh development comes almost two months after MediBuddy shut down DocsApp – a telemedicine startup which it acquired in 2020. While shutting down DocsApp, the startup said that DocsApp’s complete merger with MediBuddy will pave the way for a single umbrella entity with end-to-end healthcare services. Confirming the development with Inc42, MediBuddy spokesperson in a written statement said, “As an employee-centric organization, it is one of the most difficult decisions that we had to make in order to ensure the long-term stability of the company. While layoffs are never easy and it is painful in the short term, this was to realign our current business goals for long-term stability and growth. Given the market conditions, many organizations continue to adjust and it is rather unfortunate that we too had to take this step to ensure that we continue to focus on our vision to make high-quality healthcare accessible to a billion people. In this entire process of realignment, we had to part with 8% of the workforce across all departments as a one-time restructuring exercise and eliminated any redundancy in roles and responsibilities. We are committed to supporting these individuals during this transition and have implemented a variety of resources to assist them. This includes out-placement assistance that will actively assist impacted employees in identifying potential job opportunities, a care package designed for them that includes MediBuddy wallet continuity for their health and wellness, and extension of health insurance. We will continue our investments in all growth levers in the coming months to continue to serve our existing customers better. We are grateful for the contribution of all our employees and will continue to do everything in our power to support them during this difficult time.” Founded in 2013 by Satish Kannan and Enbasekar Dinadayalane, MediBuddy allows users to book lab tests, consult doctors and order medicines on its platform. The startup claims to have a partner network of 90,000 doctors, 7,000 hospitals, 3,000 diagnostic centers, 2,500 pharmacies, among others. The startup also offers end-to-end surgery care in departments such as Proctology, Ophthalmology, Vascular, ENT, Orthopaedics, and Urology, Gynaecology, and more. Recommended For You: 4th January, 2023 Early last year, the startup raised $125 Mn in its Series C round from Quadria Capital Capital and Lightrock India. The round further saw participation from existing investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, India Life Sciences Fund III, Rebright Partners, JAFCO Asia, TEAMFUND LP among others. MediBuddy to date has raised more than $170 Mn from over a dozen investors. Last year, the startup had also announced acquisition of rural India-focused online consultation platform Clinix for an undisclosed amount. The deal was expected to help MediBuddy to further expand its reach in non-metro areas of the country. MediBuddy will leverage Clinix’s network across 20 Tier-2, 3 cities to increase its user base and further scale their operations. In FY22, MediBuddy’s net loss on a standalone basis jumped by 2.4X to INR 249.2 Cr from INR 102.7 Cr in FY21. While the startup’s revenue from operations increased by 58% to INR 234.06 Cr in FY22 from INR 147.5 Cr in FY21, the startup’s total expenses climbed by 89% to INR 485.9 Cr in FY22 from INR 256.6 Cr in FY21. MediBuddy has become the sixth Indian health-focused startup to have laid off its employees since the layoff cycle began early last year. Earlier, telemedicine startup MFine laid off over 600 employees, whereas healthtech unicorn startup Innovacer let go of around 120 employees. Breathe Well-Being, Docon by PharmEasy, HealhtifyMe, among others have conducted layoffs.