Facing liquidity crunch, Bounce lays off half its workforce

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Editor's note: It has been a tough week at Bounce. Varun Agni, co-founder and chief technology officer of the Bengaluru-based mobility startup, called his team members, one by one, to deliver the bad news. The company, he said, would be laying off the “entire tech team”, recalls a former employee who received the call. They requested not to be named.  The layoffs continued across departments. In Bengaluru, Bounce has sacked almost 90% of its employees, according to two other former executives, who also requested anonymity. It also laid off a few employees working at its manufacturing plant in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. In all, according to one of the three former executives cited above, more than half the firm’s workforce has been fired.  Until last week, Bounce had fewer than 500 employees; that count is now less than 250. The company has only retained department heads, some core team members and a few employees from the 22Motors team, according to the third former executive. Bounce had acquired the Gurugram-based electric vehicle startup in October 2021, rebranding its existing scooters as Bounce Infinity and thus …