Grocery delivery startup Apna Mart culls 10% of staff, moves base to Gurugram

Grocery delivery startup Apna Mart culls 10% of staff, moves base to Gurugram



Accel and Peak XV-backed grocery delivery startup Apna Mart has trimmed its headcount by 10% due to AI adoption in business operations and a decision to move its headquarters from Bengaluru to Gurugram, according to two people aware of the developments, who did not want their identities to be revealed. The company has since confirmed the layoffs to ET.

In an internal email sent to its employees, reviewed by ET, the company said, “…your role has been impacted as part of our transition from Bangalore to base locations.” It added that the affected employees will receive severance pay equivalent to two months of their salaries.

Responding to ET’s queries, the company said, “This is part of a broader organisational restructuring where we are aligning teams closer to our core markets. We had to let go of the employees for whom relocation wasn’t possible. At the same time, some roles are simply no longer needed because the work is now handled by AI.”

The 10% reduction in headcount translates to about 35-40 employees across different verticals, the company said.

Apna Mart’s product and tech team will be based in Gurugram. Currently, the company has a presence in 10 cities across Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal with operational teams in these cities. “We have historically operated and executed from these cities, and this move is in line with that approach,” the company said.

Founded by Abhishek Singh and Chetan Garg, Apna Mart operates on a franchisee model, offering groceries in 10 minutes in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. It works on an omnichannel model, enabling customers to buy groceries from its stores or online. It currently has 185-195 stores.