Dunzo delays paying salaries further as company faces severe cash crunch

Cash-strapped quick-commerce startup Dunzo has further delayed paying August salaries to a number of employees, after having earlier promised to clear them by the end of this week.

In an unplanned video call with employees Friday, founder and chief executive Kabeer Biswas said the pending August salaries would be paid next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Biswas said the firm had received "some funds" that helped it clear August salaries for some employees, but the pay-outs were delayed for the rest of the staffers due to "procedural requirements", according to people in the know of the matter.


He did not clarify if Dunzo had raised fresh funds, but said he was hopeful of closing fresh funding over the next few weeks.

On Monday, ET reported that the Reliance Retail-backed firm had promised to clear all staff salaries for August by the end of this week. The salaries were earlier supposed to be cleared by September 4.

Moreover, the firm had said the pending salaries for June and July have been delayed further, without giving a future date of payment.

Dunzo has been struggling to finalise funding amid a cash crunch, as a valuation mismatch among stakeholders has become a point of contention between investors, ET reported on August 22.

Over the last eight months, the company has fired close to 400 employees. Dunzo is also facing legal notices from the likes of Google India, Koo and Glance over pending vendor payments.