Vernacular social-media platform ShareChat will complete a decade in about two years. It will be a notable moment, given that numerous businesses in this particular line of work have fallen by the wayside.

While ShareChat has had a steady rise, the 2019-21 period stands out. In that time, it launched short-form video app Moj, entered fantasy gaming, collected $1.6 billion-plus in funding and became a unicorn. Even the first half of 2022 was fruitful: it strengthened its position in video by acquiring Moj’s rival, MX TakaTak, and reached a valuation of $5 billion.

But this stellar phase seems illusory to the employees now.

Last week, Bengaluru-based ShareChat’s parent, Mohalla Tech, announced slashing the workforce by nearly 20%. Over 500 people have been sacked — from operations managers, product analysts, sales and marketing members to software developers and machine learning engineers. The cuts have also hit senior executives, though the C-suite hasn’t been touched.

The CapTable has reviewed a list of about 150 affected employees, who have created a database to help each other find new jobs.

There is anger over the way the layoffs were conducted. The ShareChat staffers we spoke with claimed there was no prior communication. They prepared for meetings and assignments only to find themselves shut out of their corporate email and Slack accounts. Some said colleagues broke the upsetting news to them.