Third Wave Coffee, a specialty coffee and food brand with investment from Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, has reportedly laid off 100-120 employees.
According to a report by Moneycontrol, employees across teams such as tech, finance, marketing, business development and app were let go.
The decision to reduce workforce numbers comes several months following the Bengaluru-based startup’s successful Series C funding round, where it secured $35 million. The funding was led by Creaegis, a private equity firm, with participation from Westbridge Capital and Sujeet Kumar of Udaan.
To be sure, Kamath did not participate in the company’s fundraising in September and holds less than a 1 percent stake in the startup.
“The head of HR and the founder have coming to each of us, speaking for 10-15 minutes and informing people that their roles are no longer needed in the restructured organisation,” one of the employees told Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions.
“This has been going on for the past two days and there is going to be another round tomorrow (December 15). The best part? No one knows what a restructured organisation means. I thought we were doing well as a company,” the employee added.
This decision has affected even senior leaders within the organisation.
Third Wave Coffee is providing impacted employees with the choice to either receive two months’ salary if they opt for an immediate departure or continue working until mid-February if they prefer to do so.
“TWC post a strategic review has decided on a one-time restructuring exercise to consolidate our teams, impacting less than 10 percent of the organisation. As an organisation we are in a strong position post the recent fund raise. We will continue to scale and build TWC as India’s most loved coffee brand,” the company told Moneycontrol.
Reportedly, employees were not formally notified in writing about the reduction in headcount; instead, the communication took place in person at Third Wave’s office, as reported by individuals familiar with the situation.
The decision comes at a time when Third Wave said it will be expanding its offline footprint across the country. The coffee startup already has over 100 stores in India.
To achieve its growth targets, the startup has already raised a total of over $65 million from a clutch of angel and institutional investors, as per Tracxn, a private markets data provider.
Third Wave Coffee Roasters competes with Blue Tokai, Slay Coffee, Sleepy Owl Coffee, Hatti Kaapi and traditional chains such as Cafe Coffee Day, among others.
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