Quick commerce startup Airlift has announced closing down operations in South Africa as well as some cities in Pakistan as the global capital downturn ravages startups.
“In light of the significant downturn in global capital markets, Airlift is undertaking a strategic realignment to reduce the surface area of operations and to increase focus in key areas that drive sustainability and profitability. As a part of efforts to reduce the surface area, Airlift is pulling out of certain markets, including Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria.” Airlift said in a statement.
“Additionally, the company is relocating 8-10 dark stores in our largest markets (Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad), which account for almost 90% of our revenue,” Airlift said in a statement. “The above efforts are a part of Airlift’s strategy to focus on building scale and profitability in markets with considerable scale and high order density,” the statement added.
Additionally, Airlift is also reducing headcount by 31 per cent across all markets and limiting the number of categories on the platform. “The decision to part ways with talented teammates has been incredibly challenging for the company. For impacted teammates, Airlift stands committed to providing financial and placement support to help find new roles.”
These decisions, Airlift said, are an important step toward Airlift’s long-term vision of enabling self-empowerment and leveraging technology to offer customer-centric solutions. “By reducing the breadth of our operations, Airlift seeks to achieve greater depth in key areas and deliver stronger value to customers in our largest markets,” Airlift said.
