Heaptalk, Jakarta — The layoffs trend around the startup ecosystem has also occurred in one of Indonesia’s unicorn startups, Xendit. Following a shocking layoff announcement of Shopee last week, this local digital payment platform decided to lay off 5% of its employees in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Xendit’s party was forced to take this complex step to carry out rightsizing and team resources effort due to macroeconomic uncertainty, which impacted the overall sector. The action is also based on a progressive business strategy in observing future circumstances. The company has thoroughly considered ensuring its readiness to face future business challenges and opportunities.
As delivered by Xendit’s Chief Executive Officer, Tessa Wijaya, “The implementation of the rightsizing scheme for the team is a highly complicated consideration, yet we have to optimize our position in the short and long term for the business development of the company. Around 5% of our team in Indonesia and the Philippines were affected by this consideration,”
In terms of the company’s employee growth, the Journal RevoU report in 2021, Xendit has occupied the sixth position among ten technology-based startups in Indonesia, with the additional new employees reached by 104%, or approximately 307 people.
Tessa stated the company had generated a fantastic performance through various parties’ backing, specifically from its team, with high dedication and contribution. As a part of the company’s appreciation for the team, she affirmed to accompany the impacted team by gaining worthy compensation with the process following the laws and regulations.
“Employees affected by this layoff will also receive additional support, spanning the extension of the health insurance period and psychological assistance. On the other hand, the company will record the Xendit’s alumnus to assist the impacted team in finding a job more quickly,” Tessa added.
Related to the structures rightsizing and team resources endeavor of Xendit, Tessa claimed this action would not negatively impact the business sustainability of this local fintech startup. In her upcoming intentions, the leader of this company ascertains to retain Xendit’s position as the leading digital payment platform in Indonesia and the Philippines market and continue to enhance better payment infrastructure in SEA.
Since its inception, Xendit has hit the unicorn level with a US$300 million Series D round last May 2022. As cited by the RevoU report, this digital payment application has accomplished over 150 million digital transactions annually, bringing its sophisticated growth of 250% year-on-year (YoY). The platform has also contained three million active users, consisting of companies entity (10%) and MSMEs (90%).
