Mobility unicorn Ola laid off 200 software engineers across its group companies, as part of the internal restructuring.
According to a source close to the company, Ola group has close to 2,000 engineers, out of which 10 per cent have been laid off. According to Ola, this restructuring is done to “centralize operations, minimize redundancy and build a strong lateral structure that strengthens relevant roles and functions.”
The mobility company said it has increased its focus on non-software engineering domains as it builds engineering and R&D capabilities across vehicle, cell , battery, manufacturing and automation, autonomous engineering streams and others.
“We are building on common capabilities and synergies across functions as it strengthens its play across 2Ws, 4Ws, Cell R&D and manufacturing. Ola currently has around 2,000 engineers and aims to increase its engineering talent pool to 5,000 over the next 18 months,” the company added. Ola Electric is said to be hiring for roles in vehicle engineering, sourcing, product management and data science.
Job losses
These layoffs come three months after Ola had shut down Ola Dash — its quick commerce business and used-cars retail Ola Cars. The shutdown of two business verticals along with Ola’s increased focus on profitability resulted in around 400-500 job losses in July 2022.
The SoftBank-backed company saw over 30 senior executives leaving the company since 2020, including Arun Srinivas, former COO and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Ola, Pranay Jivrajka, former CEO of Ola Foods, and Dinesh Radhakrishnan, former Chief Technology Officer of Ola.
Further, Ola opened online booking for its electric scooters last month, but the lukewarm response from the customers has now pushed the EV unicorn to open offline stores. Earlier this week, the company said it has opened 20 experience stores and plans to open over 200 by March 2023.