Bounce cuts salary across org, expects to have runway for more than 30 months

Bike-sharing startup Bounce has said that they will cut salary across the organization in a bid to conserve cash due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The pay cut is for employees whose annual salary is above Rs 3 lakh while the founders are taking a 100% cut.

This move will give the Bengaluru startup a runway of over 30 months after raising $105 million in January.

We @bounceshare have announced salary cuts across the org other than those less than 3 Lakhs p.a. The pay cut is graded based on salary," said Vivekananda Hallekere, chief executive of Bounce, in a tweet. "Needless to say, Founders would take a 100% pay cut. This will give us run-way of beyond 30 months. Glad we raised money when we didn't need."

This comes as several startups are facing heat due to the uncertainty attached with the COVID-19 pandemic. Many startup founders including Aloke Bajpai of Ixigo and Deep Kalra of MakeMyTrip have forego their salaries while also trimming pay for top level employees.

The Indian startup ecosystem is also witnessing layoffs in cases where the companies are left with no other choice. TravelTriangle had to let go of over 250 employees recently.

As for Bounce, the firm had been looking at trimming expenses since the beginning of this year. In February, Entrackr had reported that Bounce had reduced its monthly cash burn from $7 million to $5.5 million while also implementing other changes for user accountability.