Tickertape lays off 29 of about 96 staff as the Smallcase spin-out seeks sustainability

A Bengaluru platform of market-research tools for Indian stocks, mutual funds, indices and ETFs, incubated inside Smallcase.

That cutting about 30% of staff, with a possible fold into Smallcase, gives Tickertape a path to becoming financially sustainable.

Smallcase invested $5M in Tickertape; it was unable to raise outside equity as an independent company, per one ETtech source.

Tickertape was founded in 2015 and incubated within Smallcase, with the intent of building a full-stack market research company to help investors decide. It was hived off as a separate entity in 2021 with a $5M investment from Smallcase, and was meant to raise equity from external investors, which one source said did not work out.

On 27 April 2023 ETtech reported, citing two sources, that Tickertape had laid off around 30% of its workforce and may fold into Smallcase, its largest investor. Founder Ujjwal Ankur confirmed the layoffs on Twitter, saying 29 colleagues were let go in a restructuring exercise and calling it an unfortunate but necessary step toward financial sustainability after two years independent.

The plan to raise outside equity for an independent Tickertape did not work out, one source said.

Ankur said the restructuring was needed for the company to become financially sustainable.

The wider tech-enabled stock-broking space was slowing at the time.

A spin-out that cannot attract outside capital can end up cutting staff and returning to its parent, so the independence bet depends on a fundraise.

As of 2023-04-27 Tickertape had cut 29 of about 96 employees, and its possible merger back into Smallcase was reported by sources but not confirmed by the company.