edited by: Mohammad Haris
Last Update: January 18, 2023, 4:32 pm IST
GoMechanic was founded in 2016 (Representational Image)
GoMechanic co-founder Amit Bhasin says this restructuring is going to be painful, a third party firm will audit the business
GoMechanic, a car workshop and auto spare parts platform, has decided to lay off around 70 per cent of its workforce. Amit Bhasin, co-founder of the Sequoia India-backed company, has said the firm made “serious errors in judgement” as it pursued developments at all costs, including “financial reporting”.
In a LinkedIn post on Tuesday (January 17), the GoMechanic co-founder said, “We take full responsibility for this current situation and have unanimously decided to restructure the business while we seek a capital solution.” This reorganization is going to be painful and we will unfortunately have to let go of approx. 70 percent of the workforce. Also, a third party firm will be auditing the business.”
GoMechanic was founded in 2016 to “bridge the gap between process-oriented authorized service centers and cost-effective local workshops for people looking for a better car repair experience”.
The GoMechanic layoffs come after the company struggled to raise funding despite discussions with several investors recently. Early last year, it was reportedly in talks to raise funds led by Tiger Global at a valuation of over $1 billion.
Watch Amit Bhasin’s full message here:
We founded GoMechanic in 2016 to bridge the gap between process-oriented authorized service centers and cost-effective local workshops for those looking for a superior car repair experience. Within a short span of time, we were able to build a startup that provided ‘a network of technology-enabled car service centers that provide their services at the convenience of just a single tap’. It was our conscious commitment to provide a convenient, affordable and reliable experience that has helped us win the trust and hearts of our customers. In this journey we have been fortunate to have the support of a large number of investors. We have come a long way from starting with a few hundred customers to rapidly expanding our business to serve over 7 lakh customers.
As entrepreneurs, we identify problems, come up with solutions, and explore every opportunity to develop those solutions to meet unmet needs. But in this case we got lost. Our passion to survive the intrinsic challenges of this sector and manage capital got the better of us and we made errors in decision making with respect to financial reporting by following developments at all costs, which we deeply regret.
We take full responsibility for the current situation and have unanimously decided to restructure the business while exploring a capital solution. This reorganization is going to be painful and we unfortunately almost have to let go. 70 percent workforce. In addition, a third party firm will audit the business.
While the situation for Go Mechanic is far from anything we ever imagined, we are working on a plan that will be most feasible under the circumstances.
The support of your well wishers is needed now more than ever.
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