Startups may hire more this year as business bounces back

Mumbai: Startups will likely witness strong hiring uptick this year, a report showed, driven by a bounce back in business and revenues, with growth for some even surpassing pre-Covid-19 levels.

The pace of recruitment will increase this year, said about 72% of startup founders surveyed by debt fund InnoVen Capital in its annual Startup Outlook Report, with logistics, digital media, ecommerce and deep tech the most bullish about hiring.

“At the beginning of the festive season in August and September last year, demand came back and the pervasive changes in consumer behaviour also played to the strengths of digital-first consumerfocused business models,” said Ashish Sharma, CEO of InnoVen Capital. The Covid-19 pandemic hurt most companies and they had to make tough calls around realigning team sizes and salary cuts, although a few enjoyed immediate tailwinds (ed-tech, gaming), the report said. Some companies took harsher measures than required at the time but “are now back in the market to ramp up their teams and position themselves for growth again,” Sharma said.