Singapore-based super-app, Grab, is gearing up for its largest round of layoffs since the pandemic. Grab, a leader in delivery and ride-hailing services, is battling with rising competition across Southeast Asia.

The reported layoffs are likely to surpass the company’s last layoff round in 2020, which saw staff cut by 5%, equivalent to around 360 employees, Bloomberg reported.

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Grab’s shares have slumped around 70% since the start-up made its stock market debut on New York’s Nasdaq trading platform in 2021.

Grab continues to suffer the economic aftershocks of the pandemic as economies struggle to regain financial stability. In May, a rise in inflation and higher interest rates caused slower customer spending, which in turn saw shares in the internet company to fall further than they have in over a year, Bloomberg reported.

While the company dominates the Southeast Asian market in delivery and private transport services, it is yet to reach profitability as it spends on growth and competition from rivals including Indonesia’s GoTo Group.

Grab moved forward its profitability timeline, forecasting an upbeat 2023 revenue in February 2022, saying in September 2022 that it didn’t have plans to conduct mass layoffs, Reuters reported.  

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But a couple of months after the report, Grab’s CEO told staff that the company was freezing the majority of hiring, providing payrises for senior manages and cutting travel and expense budgets, according to Reuters.

The internet company is now planning to slim down its functions by removing some non-core projects, Bloomberg reported.