For employees of Lummo, the past fifteen months were a roller coaster. While the Indonesian SaaS startup announced announced The Jakarta Post Lummo, formerly Bukukas, secures $80 million in Series C funding Read more a US$80 million series-C funding round in early 2022, in a matter of six months, the company significantly lowered lowered Tech in Asia Tiger Global-backed Lummo cuts 150+ employees Read more its headcount as the tech industry downturn hit the country. Of those laid off, 50% was its Indian Indian Inc24 Exclusive: Sequoia Capital-Backed SaaS Startup Lummo Lays Off 50% Indian Workforce Read more workforce. The remaining staffers carried on.
Given the amount of venture capital the company raised—about US$130 million since its founding in 2019—and the cost-cutting exercise last year, employees thought Lummo had several years of runway left to keep iterating its products. However, this March, Lummo’s management informed them that the company was mulling mulling Moneycontrol Jeff Bezos, Sequoia-backed SaaS startup Lummo mulls sale or shutdown Read more a shutdown or sale, a current and a former employee confirmed to The Ken.
Venture capital (VC) deployments in the region have slowed slowed Nikkei Asia ASEAN startup fundraising slumped in 2022 but still up from 2019 Read more down significantly, with deal value contracting by a third in 2022. It’s no surprise that several startups—such as co-working space Cohive, cloud kitchen Dishserve, and the Indonesian offshoot of India’s used-car marketplace Cars24—are calling it quits in the current funding climate. The three-and-a-half-year-old Lummo stands out, with a valuation of over US$550 million despite generating a fraction of revenue.
However, shutting down can be easier said than done. After all, there are many legalities to consider when unwinding a company. For example, how to return the remaining cash–if there is any–to investors. In Lummo’s case, that’s VC firms Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, Hedosophia, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, among others.
A simpler way to bow out could be to merge all the remaining assets with a potential acquirer. But the task is to find that acquirer.
Lummo appears to be considering all options, striking up conversations with various companies for a potential merger. The Ken has learnt one of those firms is India’s online-gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL).
