Pocket FM, an audio-series platform, is trimming its workforce as part of its restructuring measures. It is letting go 75 team members, primarily from the tech division. In an earlier round in October last year, that is, 2024, it had let go 50 employees, while before that it had let go 200 writers who were working on contract basis.
As per Moneycontrol, this round of layoffs is aimed at ensuring growth, success and sustainable operations in the long run. Some media reports say the job cuts may not stop at 75, as the process appears to be an ongoing on.
In April of 2024, the audio-entertainment platform had concluded its inaugural Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) buyback, amounting to $8.3 million. The buyback had witnessed active participation from existing employees as well as former employees. At the time the company had expressed its commitment to recognising the contributions of its teams. This ESOP buyback had come close on the heels of Pocket FM’s successful Series D funding round in March, wherein it had managed to raise $103 million, valuing the company at $750 million.
The platform, which was launched about seven years ago, offers over 75,000 audio series on its platform, covering various genres, including drama, fantasy, romance, science fiction and thriller. The Pocket FM audio series are available in several regional languages, including Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam and Kannada.
Rohan Nayak, Prateek Dixit and Nishanth Srinivas are the founders of the platform. Among those that have invested in Pocket FM are names such as Lightspeed, Times Internet, Tanglin Venture Partners, Goodwater Capital, Naver and Silicon Valley Bank.
