Fittr lays off 11% of its workforce due to losses incurred in FY22
- ByStartupStory | March 2, 2023
Fittr, a fitness startup based in Pune, has reportedly laid off around 11% of its workforce, which amounts to nearly 30 employees according to the company’s official statement. However, sources familiar with the matter claim that the actual number of layoffs, including coaches and trainers, is closer to 60 and that these job cuts have been taking place since last year.
According to a source, Fittr’s recent layoffs affected employees in various departments, including marketing, sales, client servicing, and tech teams.
In a statement, Fittr’s CEO and co-founder, Jitendra Chouksey, stated that “the company had to lay off employees due to role redundancy, which amounts to around 11% of the total workforce over a period of 6-8 months.”
Chouksey also mentioned that the company had hired new employees to fill critical positions. He added that Fittr experienced a surge in hiring after the COVID-19 pandemic due to the business’s hyper-growth.
Fittr, previously known as SQUATS, was established in 2016 by Jitendra Chouksey, Sonal Singh, Jyoti Dabas, Bala Krishna Reddy, and Rohit Chattopadhyay. The company started as a fitness community platform on WhatsApp, aimed at assisting individuals in achieving their fitness objectives, including weight loss or gain and overall fitness improvement.
Fittr operates on a freemium model, with some services such as answering questions about individual fitness regimens provided for free. However, it charges a fee for personalised diet and exercise regimes, which are offered by fitness coaches.
Fittr’s CEO stated that “the company is currently in a stabilisation phase and needs to realign some roles with its future growth plans, new benchmarks, and required skill sets. As a result, the company had to let go of some employees who were hired during the hyper-growth period”. However, the CEO emphasised that Fittr values long-term employees and has several who have completed over five years with the company.
The CEO added that addressing role redundancy and having a focus-driven team will improve performance. He also noted that some employees had voluntarily resigned as they had received better job offers and were seeking a career change.
At the onset of the pandemic, there was a temporary setback for digital wellness platforms, but they quickly rebounded as users flocked to online platforms due to the closure of physical training centres and gyms.
Fittr, as per its MCA filings, experienced a loss of INR 25.2 Cr in FY22, which is a sharp decline from its profit of INR 49.04 Lakh in FY21. Despite this, the startup saw a rise in its revenue from operations to INR 83.05 Cr in FY22 from INR 52.7 Cr in FY21.
In September 2021, Fittr received a funding of $11.5 Mn from investors such as Dream Capital and Elysian Park Ventures, in addition to being backed by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge.
However, like many other Indian startups affected by the funding slowdown, Fittr has also reduced its workforce. Across 79 startups, over 22,900 employees have been impacted by layoffs, including seven healthtech startups that have laid off over 1,735 employees.
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