Cars24 — an India-based auto marketplace with operations in Australia and the UAE — has laid off between 200 and 250 employees as part of a cost-cutting exercise, Entrackr reports.
The company laid off employees in product and technology — as recently as December 2024, it said that it was hoping to recruit more than 100 professionals for this division. Cars24 had previously laid off workers in 2022.
“Some projects and roles were added prematurely”
Cars24 founder and CEO Vikram Chopra said: “The layoffs are not about performance but about structure and the bets we placed. We’ve learned that speed without clarity is expensive, and some projects and roles were added prematurely. Moving forward, we need to be more strategic and deliberate with our investments and team-building.”
The layoffs come just days after Cars24 announced the acquisition of auto community and forum Team-BHP. This followed rival Spinny’s acquisition of Haymarket’s auto content sites — Autocar India, Autocar Professional and What Car? Spinny secured $131 million U.S. in a funding round earlier this month.
Founded in 2015, Cars24 initially operated as a b-to-b marketplace before shifting to a c-to-b-to-c model. It reported INR69.1 billion ($809 million) in operating revenue for the 12 months to March 2024 and is planning an IPO this year.
On the product front, the company officially unveiled its insurance and financing arms, Insure24 and Loans24, in January and February this year, respectively. In December last year, it launched a chatbot called Autonaut.
