Indian Unicorns Maintain Talent Growth Amid Funding, Growth Challenges: Report

Despite the funding crunch, growth challenges, and layoffs rocking the startup ecosystem, Indian Unicorns have continued to hire talent.

According to data collected by staffing firm Xpheno, The Economic Times reported that the 15 unicorns, including major players such as BigBasket, Delhivery, Flipkart, IndiaMART, Meesho, Ola, PhonePe, Swiggy, Udaan, Zoho, and Zomato, have fired 33,000 employees but hired 58,000 people.

This cohort of start-ups has added a record 25,000 net headcount, the report added.

People who were fired during this time found opportunities in a group of 27 companies surveyed by the staffing firm.

Of the companies involved, 18 are start-ups, which constitute 75 per cent of talent absorptions. Notably, 8 out of these 18 start-ups hail from within the top 15 Unicorns under study, indicating a substantial lateral movement of talent within this elite group. The remaining nine enterprises, categorised as large and established, absorbed 25 per cent of the talent. Despite a broader slowdown in the startup sector and liquidity constraints, almost all companies either maintained or increased their headcounts during the period, with only a few exceptions.

Anil Ethanur, co-founder of Xpheno, emphasized the significance of these startups managing attrition while achieving net headcount growth amid what has been one of the slowest years for macro talent activity, as added in the ET report.

The analysis relies on a study of the talent loss trends among the Top 15 Indian unicorns, measured by attrition count. Estimated attrition rates are translated into the actual number of employees who departed over the course of the year.