Ula Announces Layoffs of 134 Employees, All Affected Divisions

Ula, a technology startup for shop modernization, announced the layoffs of 134 employees or around 23% of Ula's total employees spread across three countries, namely India, Singapore and Indonesia. This efficiency impact applies equally to all divisions across countries.

"Today we are sad to share the extremely difficult decision to reduce the size of our team, which affected 134 of our colleagues or approximately 23% of companies across all geographies," wrote management in an official statement. on the Ula site, Tuesday (29/11).

Ula argued that the company has faced major challenges since the pandemic. It was explained during the launch of Ula in January 2020 that it was greeted with rapid growth, customer love and investor interest throughout 2020 to 2021. Then after the pandemic and entering 2022, like many other startups, it faced various challenges, including market turbulence, commodity price volatility, shortages supply, regulatory changes, and rising crude oil prices.

To overcome these challenges, the company made various cost reductions to make them more efficient, including making changes to the supply chain, sales effectiveness processes, travel policies, and server technology.

“Nonetheless, it has become increasingly clear to us that we need to adapt to the new reality and focus more on profitability than ever before. A very difficult decision today stems from that need."

Going forward, management is devising a strategy to streamline its business portfolio and customer base. Then, build new business and monetization capabilities with margin higher; further simplify and optimize supply chains to adapt to higher quality customers, particularly underserved Indonesian retailers.

"Given that the business will not grow as quickly as we originally planned, we will be delaying development or in some cases, upgrading some of our planned technology capabilities."

Management continued, “If you have been affected, we are very sorry, and want you to know that this decision is not a reflection of your work. As founders, we employ many of you personally.”

To the affected employees, Ula gave a number benefits:

• Provides severance pay based on legal requirements in the respective countries.
• Ensuring career support, including helping them with their CV and interview preparation.
• Leverage Ula's partner network support for employment opportunities.
• Offers immigration support for visa holders in all geographic areas.
• Partner with licensed services to expand mental health support for affected employees.

“Going forward, we will continue to empower local retailers, who are part and parcel of the heart and soul of retail in Indonesia, with technology that will enable them to outpace their larger counterparts. Our commitment to Ula's vision is as strong as ever, and we look forward to taking this journey with you."

Ula is one of two local startups supported by funding from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, in October 2021. Another one is Lummo on February 2022. Previously, it was also reported that Lummo had made layoffs, but until now no official statement had been announced regarding this news. In the same line of business, there is also BukuWarung which is reported to have taken similar steps.

Quote from RevoU, from various sources from LinkedIn Premium Insights and others, during May 2021-May 2022, Ula was included in the startup with the fastest percentage of employee growth. Here's the order:

1. Moladin (567%): added 550 people
2. Your school (157%): added 598 people
3. Flip (142%): added 247 people
4. Magic (133%): added 253 people
5. Ula (126%): an increase of 369 people
6. Waresix (111%): added 204 people
7. Zenius (100%): added 599 people
8. eFishery (95%): added 387 people
9. Seedlings (94%): added 246 people
10. Cakap (93%): added 170 people