Tickertape to Lay Off 30% of Staff; Potential Merger with Wealth Management Startup Smallcase

• ByStartupStory     |    April 28, 2023

Tickertape, a wealth management firm, has reportedly laid off 30% of its workforce amid talks of a possible merger with Smallcase, its largest investor. The company was founded in 2015 and initially incubated within Smallcase before becoming a separate entity in 2021. Smallcase had invested $5 million in Tickertape, which is based in Bengaluru. Tickertape’s founder, Ujjwal Ankur, confirmed the layoffs on Twitter.

Tickertape did not respond to an email query from ETtech regarding the reported layoffs. However, the company’s founder, Ujjwal Ankur, confirmed on Twitter that 29 employees had been let go as part of a restructuring exercise. Prior to the layoffs, Tickertape had a total of 96 employees.

Tickertape is an all-encompassing market research platform that offers advanced tracking tools for stocks, mutual funds, indices, and ETFs in India. Originally incubated by Smallcase, the platform aims to empower users with data-driven insights to make informed investment decisions. With its cutting-edge features and comprehensive content, Tickertape is the go-to resource for Indian investors seeking to optimize their portfolios.

According to a source cited by ETtech, the original plan for Tickertape was to establish it as an independent entity and secure funding from external investors. However, this approach was unsuccessful. Despite growing in size and achieving numerous successes during its two years of independent operation, Ankur, Tickertape’s founder, revealed on Twitter that the company’s recent decision to pivot was a necessary move toward achieving financial sustainability.

In order to achieve financial sustainability, Tickertape recently conducted a retrenchment exercise, as Ankur explained. The move was made amidst a slowdown in the tech-enabled stock broking industry. At the same time, Smallcase, Tickertape’s incubator, has been seeking new equity funding following the breakdown of acquisition negotiations with Cred, a credit card payment startup.

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