Dukan.pk, an e-commerce firm that enables anyone with a smartphone to create a web store, has reduced its personnel by around 25% as businesses all over the world embrace austerity measures as a result of a decline in venture capital financing.
Initial reports stated that Dukan.pk had been completely shut down, but CEO Monis Rahman confirmed that the startup was still very much in operation and that only about 25% of the workforce had been let go. This is because the startup is concentrating on becoming profitable and reducing its reliance on venture capital funding.
The website for Dukan.pk is still up and running, which wouldn’t have been the case in the event of a total shutdown. “We do not have the choice of shutting down. ever,” said Monis.
“All affected colleagues were asked to serve their notice period, with the exception of those who were on probation, terminated with cause, or for whom we waived the notice period because they were not required for handovers,” said CEO Rahman.
“Startups and the economy are facing really difficult times right now. Unfortunately, during downturns like this, extraordinary and occasionally painful steps must be done,” he says.
The layoffs at Dukan.pk come three days after Airlift, the face of Pakistan’s startup community, announced that it will be ceasing all operations due to a lack of VC investment, which is hurting startups all over the world. Prior to this, Airlift indicated that 31% of its staff would be let go in an effort to expand its runway in the face of poor fundraising.
Startups, on the other hand, are being compelled to make model modifications as VC funding dries up and are under pressure to make their models sustainable. Layoffs at Dukan are a part of the eCommerce startup’s efforts to increase the length of its cash runway, or at the very least until Dukan becomes profitable.
We’ve experienced significant revenue growth, and with our lower burn rate, we confidently anticipate reaching profitability within the next three months, according to Monis.
An ecosystem for small enterprises and their supply chains, Dukan.pk was established in February 2021 by Rozee.pk founder and veteran of the Pakistani tech sector Monis Rahman.
The startup appeared to be experiencing excellent growth. In a press statement issued on August 3, 2021, the startup claimed that barely five months after going into business, it had onboarded 100,000 small companies in Pakistan that had created their online stores utilizing the Dukan.pk mobile app. Dukan.pk asserted in October that the number of online retailers had increased to 200,000, doubling in size in just two months.
Although the firm was in the midst of raising a round of investment in October 2021, it has not publicly declared that it has closed the round.
