Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 9/17/20

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Well, that was fast. Just six months after everyone was warning about a startup reckoning, tech is booming again — coronavirus be damned 🤷🏻‍♂️. 

The latest evidence? Using data from PitchBook and Layoffs.fyi, the Financial Times identified more than 20 startups that recently raised funding at higher valuations despite laying off employees (including Carta, Sonder, and Stack Overflow). 

It’s not just private markets that have recovered. Shares of data startup Snowflake gained 112% on its first day of public trading yesterday, boding well for the half dozen startups about to IPO in the coming weeks. Maybe it’s time for me to finally join all the millennials trading options on Robinhood? 😉 

Despite the froth, layoffs are unfortunately still happening. I won’t be turning Layoffs.fyi into IPO.fyi anytime soon (plus, someone already registered it 2 weeks ago 😠).

Below is a recap of the layoffs from this past week. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all tech layoffs during the pandemic.

🏢 NS8 ∙ 🌎 Las Vegas ∙ 👩 240 employees (95%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • NS8, a fraud prevention startup, laid off nearly its entire staff. Ironically, the layoff came just days after NS8 informed employees that it was itself under investigation for fraud. The startup’s CEO abruptly resigned amid the SEC investigation, and has claimed that he “did not walk away with the companies [sic] money.” NS8 raised a $123 million round of funding just months ago.

🏢 Bleacher Report ∙ 🌎 London ∙ 👩 20 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Digital sports media company Bleacher Report will lay off 20 employees later this month, representing nearly its entire London office. The UK staff had been focused on Bleacher Report’s football brand (what we Americans call “soccer”), and there’s speculation that this layoff is part of a series of decisions to pull back from its investment in the sport. Bleacher Report is currently owned by AT&T.

🏢 HubHaus ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 100% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • HubHaus, a co-living startup that manages shared homes, is shutting down and laying off all its employees. The startup says that it failed to attract enough tenants, perhaps because the pandemic has exacerbated rental markets in cities like San Francisco. 

🏢 Welkin Health ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 10 employees (33%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • The New York Post learned that patient healthcare software startup Welkin Health laid off a third of its workers in late April. Three days later, the company received a PPP loan worth over $1 million. Welkin claims that a declining sales pipeline caused the layoff. Since PPP loans are only forgivable if a company maintains its headcount, it’s likely that Welkin will need to pay back the loan.

Thanks to Layoffs.fyi intern Stephan Billingslea for contributing to this post.

GoBear

GoBear launches talent directory after laying off 22 employees

Layoff list,

🌎 Singapore ∙ 👩 22 employees (11%) ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

GoBear, an online financial services “supermarket” based in Singapore, laid off 11% of its workforce in early September. The company recently released a GoBear Talent Directory featuring some of its former employees (see link 👇).

GoBear’s layoff affected employees in its operations, product, and technology teams across offices in Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, and Ukraine. The company now plans to focus on its growth areas of digital lending and insurance brokerage services.

[As an aside, GoBear feels like an ominous name choice for a financial services startup…maybe “bear market” means something different in Southeast Asia? At least their bear is cute!]

View list of employees laid off ->

Our live Layoffs Tracker has a real-time report of all startups that have done layoffs.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 9/10/20

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Below is a recap of the layoffs from this past week. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all tech layoffs during the pandemic.

🏢 Waze ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 30 employees (5%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • 5% of employees at Google-owned Waze, a navigation app, were laid off as a result of stay-at-home orders across the globe. Global weekly driving averages were down 70% at one point in the pandemic, and Waze’s carpooling service continues to see a significant drop in demand. The layoff was concentrated in Waze’s sales, marketing, and partnerships teams; those laid off will receive severance and health insurance into early 2021.

🏢 Ouster ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 10% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Lidar startup Ouster laid off 10% of its workforce due to COVID-19. Despite the layoff and a shutdown of its manufacturing facility earlier in the pandemic, Ouster recently raised a $42 million Series B and reported increasing revenue. Diversification has helped: unlike other lidar startups, Ouster sells its sensors to defense, agriculture, and mining companies, in addition to automakers.

🏢 Akerna ∙ 🌎 Denver ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Layoffs ensued at Akerna, a marijuana compliance software company, after it acquired Ample Organics in a $45 million deal. Ample Organics’ CEO, disillusioned by the acquirer’s leadership, resigned less than two months after the acquisition. He left behind some searing criticism for his former employer, saying that  “Akerna’s current leadership is unlikely to make it a preeminent leader of anything. Except, possibly, serial layoffs, customer and revenue churn, and dilutive deals that are bad for investors.”

🏢 Swing Education ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • When the pandemic closed schools in the spring, 90% of Swing Education’s revenue disappeared, causing the startup to lay off staff. The startup has now shifted its business from matching substitute teachers with schools to matching teachers with parents looking to create learning pods. Swing’s first learning pods opened in Oakland last month.

Thanks to Layoffs.fyi intern Stephan Billingslea for contributing to this post.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 9/3/20

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Below is a recap of the layoffs from this past week. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all tech layoffs during the pandemic.

🏢 Big Fish Games ∙ 🌎 Seattle ∙ 👩 250 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Big Fish Games, a developer of mobile and social casino games, laid off 250 employees despite other gaming companies reporting a surge in sales during the pandemic. Some point to a recent $155 million legal settlement, the result of allegations that the company’s games constituted illegal gambling in Washington, as a reason for the layoff.  For its part, Big Fish Games explained its decision using phrases like “refactoring operations” and “reinforce the company’s positioning for growth.”

🏢 GoBear ∙ 🌎 Singapore ∙ 👩 22 employees (11%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • GoBear, an online financial services “supermarket,” laid off 11% of its employees in offices across the globe. The company now plans to focus on its growth areas of digital lending and insurance brokerage services.  [As an aside, GoBear feels like an ominous name choice for a financial services startup…maybe “bear market” means something different in Southeast Asia?]

🏢 MakeMyTrip ∙ 🌎 New Delhi ∙ 👩 350 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • MakeMyTrip, India’s largest online travel booking company, saw revenue slashed to zero during the pandemic. Its founder joked that the company’s Q2 earnings call should’ve been called a “lack of earnings call.” As a result, the company laid off 350 employees, or 10% of its staff, in June. 

🏢 Awok ∙ 🌎 Dubai ∙ 👩 100% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Dubai-based e-commerce startup Awok shut down a year after raising a $30 million Series A. Employees have reported receiving no pay since January and blame company leadership for the shutdown; Awok’s website cites the pandemic as the reason for closing shop.

🏢 kununu ∙ 🌎 Boston ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Kununu, a platform that lets employees rate their employer, discontinued its U.S. operations and shut down its Boston office. Headquartered in Vienna, the company was bought by Linkedin competitor XING for $12.3 million in 2013.

Thanks to Layoffs.fyi intern Stephan Billingslea for contributing to this post.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 8/27/20

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Below is a recap of the layoffs from this past week. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all tech layoffs during the pandemic.

🏢 Salesforce ∙ 🌎 San Francisco Bay Area ∙ 👩 ~1,000 employees (2%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Salesforce, the CRM and enterprise cloud software giant, laid off about 1,000 employees (2%) less than a day after reporting blowout earnings. In March, Salesforce’s CEO pledged to its workforce “Ohana” that the company would not have any “significant” layoffs for 90 days. Recent layoffs affected sales and customer support, despite a 29% rise in revenue and 26% increase in share price. Affected workers were given 60 days to find another role in the firm.

🏢 Hipcamp ∙ 🌎 San Francisco Bay Area ∙ 👩 ~60% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Hipcamp, an Airbnb for camping stays, laid off around 60% of its employees back in April, TechCrunch reported today. More recently though, Hipcamp’s business has rebounded now that stay-at-home orders have eased and travelers prefer the safety of the outdoors. Hipcamp has rehired some of its laid-off employees and is looking to expand its team further.

🏢 Docly ∙ 🌎 London ∙ 👩 8 employees (80%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Telemedicine startup Docly, a spinoff of Swedish digital health provider Mik Doctor, stopped operating in the UK. 8 employees were laid off as a direct result of restructuring, as Docly will refocus on becoming a technology supplier for companies like Mik Doctor in the future.

🏢 Spaces ∙ 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Spaces, a VR entertainment startup, was recently acquired by Apple, who has been buying VR teams to develop its own VR headset. When the news broke, Spaces’ CEO noted that the company had to lay off an undisclosed number of employees at the beginning of the pandemic and take out a PPP loan to “keep the lights on.”

🏢 Streamsets ∙ 🌎 San Francisco Bay Area ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Streamsets, a data integration startup with $76 million of funding, laid off an unknown number of employees in order to survive the first wave of the pandemic. The layoffs came days after the company won a best workplaces award. The company cut R&D and some recent hires, saying that it needed to give up on “inefficient growth.”

🏢 Mapify ∙ 🌎 Berlin ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Mapify, an app for planning travel experiences, laid off “several team members,” citing the pandemic’s continued disruption on travel. The startup most recently raised a $1 million seed round in 2018.

Thanks to Layoffs.fyi intern Stephan Billingslea for contributing to this post.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 8/20/20

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Below is a recap of the layoffs from this past week. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all tech layoffs during the pandemic.

🏢 Shopify ∙ 🌎 Ottawa ∙ 👩 30-50 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • An e-commerce platform that allows anyone to set up an online store, Shopify has seen revenue double YoY during the pandemic. However, due to the company’s decision to adopt remote work permanently, at least 30 employees supporting in-office workers were laid off. BetaKit reports that some laid-off employees complained about poor severance packages and being denied transitions to other roles.

🏢 DJI ∙ 🌎 Shenzhen ∙ 👩 ~120 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Chinese drone manufacturer DJI began cutting its global sales and marketing teams in March as sales dropped and political pressures surged. The US Department of Interior recently grounded its fleet of DJI drones over security concerns, and DJI’s mobile app has been accused of collecting more user data than needed. Reuters estimates that over 120 employees have been laid off; the company denied the number but declined to provide a more accurate count.

🏢 InVision ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 40-60 employees

  • Digital product design platform InVisionApp laid off 40 to 60 employees over the past couple of weeks, sources told Layoffs.fyi. InVision most recently raised a $115 million Series F in 2018 that valued the company at $1.9 billion.

🏢 Glossier ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 Unknown # employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Make-up and skincare startup Glossier previously closed its three physical stores in March and furloughed its retail workers in June. The D2C beauty company is now laying off its retail workers, as it does not expect to reopen its stores this year. New York and Los Angeles workers will receive 12 weeks of severance and healthcare coverage through October. Glossier did not lay off any corporate employees and will continue to focus on e-commerce, its main revenue source.

Thanks to Layoffs.fyi intern Stephan Billingslea for contributing to this post.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 8/13/20

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Tech layoffs continue to level off, with many hoping that the worst is behind us. After peaking in April and May, layoffs have declined in every month since.

Citing multiple sources including Layoffs.fyi, the New York Times concludes that early “doomsday warnings have not translated into the drastic shakeout that many had expected.” The article explores how even companies that previously laid off employees, like Airbnb and Getaround, are starting to see signs of recovery.

That’s likely no comfort to the 77,000+ tech workers who have been laid off during the pandemic, or to the hundreds who continue to be laid off each week. But a fast and sustained rebound is the best we can hope for at this point 🤞.

Below is a recap of the layoffs from this past week. Our Layoffs.fyi Tracker continues to keep an updated list of all startup layoffs during COVID-19.

🏢 Thriver ∙ 🌎 Toronto ∙ 👩 75 employees (50%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Canadian corporate catering startup Platterz rebranded to Thriver after a $33 million Series B round. With offices closing due to lockdowns, their food catering revenues have dipped in this year’s second quarter. The startup laid off 50% of its workforce, or 75 employees.

🏢 Vesta ∙ 🌎 Atlanta ∙ 👩 56 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Worldwide payment services provider Vesta Corporation filed a WARN notice, consisting of a 60 calendar-day advance notification for layoffs in larger companies. The company will lay off 56 employees effective September 6th.

🏢 HopSkipDrive ∙ 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 👩 54 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • HopSkipDrive, a ride-sharing company for kids, laid off 54 employees, sources told Layoffs.fyi. Schools closing has severely impacted the startup’s business since March, when they laid off 10% of the company. To diversify its services during the pandemic, HopSkipDrive now offers tech and meal delivery.

🏢 Eatsy ∙ 🌎 Singapore ∙ 👩 20 employees (100%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Singapore-based food ordering app Eatsy has shut down, laying off its last 20 employees. In April, the company ended its operations in Indonesia. Similar food delivery start-ups in Asia, like Gojek and Grab, have also experienced layoffs.

In case you missed it, check out our standalone posts about layoffs from these companies:

Thanks to Layoffs.fyi intern Stephan Billingslea for contributing to this post.

Mozilla

Mozilla lays off 250 employees; launches talent directory

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🌎 Multiple locations ∙ 👩 250 employees (25%) ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

Mozilla Corporation, best known for developing the Firefox web browser, laid off 250 employees globally. The pandemic’s toll on revenue also caused the company to close its Taipei operations.

Going forward, Mozilla will shift its focus to new revenue-generating products, such as its VPN service, and other security and privacy products. It plans to reduce its investment in developer tools, internal tooling, and platform feature development.

Once the world’s second-most popular browser, Firefox has seen its market share dwindle over the past decade. Its primary revenue model, search engine ads, is susceptible to an economic downswing that curtails global ad spending. In addition, Firefox’s U.S. revenue comes from a recently-extended deal with Google, making Mozilla financially dependent on its rival.

In conjunction with the layoff, Mozilla’s CEO told staff that the company would be creating an opt-in talent directory, to be launched next Monday, August 17. However, the Mozilla layoff list appears to already be live, with over 50 former employees featured (see link 👇).

Mozilla is giving laid-off employees severance pay equivalent to base pay through December 31, along with health benefits through the end of the year.

UPDATE: The Mozilla talent directory is now officially live with over 120 entries.

View list of employees laid off ->

Our live Layoffs Tracker has a real-time report of all startups that have done layoffs.

Skyscanner

Skyscanner launches talent directory after laying off 300 employees

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🌎 Edinburgh ∙ 👩 300 employees (20%) ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

Skyscanner, a flight comparison website based in Scotland, laid off 300 employees (20%) globally last month. The company recently launched an official talent directory featuring a couple dozen of its former employees (see link 👇).

In conjunction with its layoff, Skyscanner plans to close or scale back many of its global offices outside the U.K. The company’s revenues “have been hit significantly,” and it expects a full recovery to be “several quarters or possibly years away” due to the pandemic’s disruption on travel.

Skyscanner is owned by Ctrip, the largest online travel agency in China, which acquired the startup in 2016 for $1.75 billion.

View list of employees laid off ->

Our live Layoffs Tracker has a real-time report of all startups that have done layoffs.

The Appraisal Lane

The Appraisal Lane lays off engineering team in Uruguay, releases talent directory

Layoff list, ,

🌎 Montevideo ∙ 👩 At least 30 employees ∙ 🖥 Engineering

The Appraisal Lane, an Austin-based startup that develops an app where vehicle owners can get an appraisal with an offer to buy, has laid off its engineering team in Uruguay, according to LinkedIn posts from multiple company representatives.

Following the layoff, The Appraisal Lane released a talent directory featuring 30 of its ex-engineers (see link 👇).

The Appraisal Lane was founded in 2013 and raised $1.8 million in its sole round of funding.

View list of employees laid off ->

Our live Layoffs Tracker has a real-time report of all startups that have done layoffs.