Digital health platform Mfine lays off 500 employees

Bengaluru: Digital health platform Mfine has laid off around 500 employees, people in the know said, becoming the latest to cut jobs as startups struggle to raise funds.

The job cut accounts for about half the workforce at the Bengaluru-based company that had been hiring employees until last month, according to media reports.

Mfine is the nineth company in the startup space to lay off employees since April. It has let go of employees in data science, engineering and product departments.


Business media website Inc42 was the first to report about the layoff.

Cofounders Ajit Narayanan did not respond to ET’s request for comment.

ET reported on May 19 that used-car platform Cars24 had laid off more than 600 of its employees.

Over the past few weeks, close to 3,000 contractual and full-time employees have been fired from Cars24, ed-tech firms Unacademy and Vedantu, social commerce startups Meesho and Trell, online learning platform Lido Learning and furniture rental startup Furlenco.

Some of these companies and other startups may look to cut more jobs, people in the know said. The layoffs come at a time when startups are finding it increasingly hard to raise funds after a record year in 2021.

ET, citing a report by CB Insights, reported on May 20 that global venture funding for startups was set to fall by 19% in the second quarter of 2022 from the previous quarter, amid tightening liquidity and a global meltdown in technology stocks. The number of deals is projected at 6,904, a 22% drop from the previous quarter, the report said.

Mfine was founded in December 2017 by former Myntra executives Ashutosh Lawania and Prasad Kompalli, who were later joined by Narayanan and Arjun Choudhary. The company last raised $48 million in September 2021.

Mfine’s digital services include doctor consultations, diagnostic tests, epharmacy and in-patient procedures. The company competes with the likes of Practo, Portea and Apollo.

In 2021, Mfine had launched an app-based SPO2 (blood oxygen saturation) monitoring tool to enable users to keep track of their oxygen saturation levels without needing an additional device. This year, the company added tools that help check blood pressure and glucose level on the app.