How It Started vs. How It’s Going: Layoffs Edition

Analysis

It’s been a roller coaster year for tech 🎢.  In the month of April alone, 269 startups laid off 26,651 employees, unsure if they’d ever be able to raise money again.

Now? Fundraising and IPO markets are at their frothiest levels since the dot-com era. We end the year with just 4 recorded layoffs in December.

Even startups that cut employees earlier in the year have rebounded. Here are our Top 10 layoff comeback stories of 2020 – or, view the Layoffs.fyi Tracker to catch up on all the layoffs that happened this year.

10. Hipcamp

How it started: Reportedly laid off 60% of employees in April
How it’s going: Announced in August that it bought a competitor, brought back some of its laid-off employees, and is hiring again

9. Stack Overflow

How it started: Laid off 40 employees (15%) in May
How it’s going: Raised $85 million in July at a “significant step up” from its previous valuation

8. Sonder

How it started: Laid off 400 employees (33%) in March
How it’s going: Raised $170 million in June at an increased valuation of $1.3 billion

7. Yelp

How it started: Laid off or furloughed 2,100 employees (35%) in April
How it’s going: Announced in July that it would bring back “nearly all” of its furloughed employees. Its stock price has rebounded 113% from its pandemic low

6. Skillz

How it started: Laid off 21 employees in April
How it’s going: IPO in December via SPAC, now trading at a market cap of $7 billion

5. Metromile

How it started: Laid off 100 employees (33%) in April
How it’s going: In November, announced plans to IPO in Q1 2021 via SPAC

4. Segment

How it started: Laid off 50 employees (10%) in May
How it’s going: Acquired by Twilio for $3.2 billion in November

3. Carta

How it started: Laid off 161 employees (16%) in April
How it’s going: Doubled its valuation in a $180 million funding round just one month later

2. Opendoor

How it started: Laid off 600 employees (35%) in April
How it’s going: IPO in December via SPAC, now trading at a market cap of $13 billion

1. Airbnb

How it started: Laid off 1,900 employees (25%) in May
How it’s going: IPO in December, now trading at a market cap of nearly $100 billion(!)

Honorable mentions: Lattice, Pipedrive, Grab, Parsable, Hibob, Aqua Security

Of course, not all companies have had such an unexpected reversal of fortune. Plenty of startups are still struggling, not to mention the pandemic’s continued toll on the broader economy and human lives.

Here’s hoping for a brighter and less volatile 2021 💉. Happy new year!

Scoop

Scoop conducts second layoff of 2020

Layoff list, ,

🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩 Unknown # employees ∙ 🖥 All departments

Scoop, which facilitates carpooling for commuters, laid off over 40 employees. The layoff comes seven months after the startup cut 92 employees in April, saying at the time that it was operating at a “fraction” of its normal volume due to offices closing across the country.

See link below for a crowdsourced layoff list containing employees laid off in both the April and November rounds.

View list of employees laid off ->

See our live Layoffs Tracker for a real-time report of all startups that have done layoffs.

Layoffs Roundup: Fri 11/6/20

Roundup, , ,

Below is a recap of the latest tech layoff news. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all tech layoffs during the pandemic.

🏢 Bossa Nova ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 50% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Bossa Nova Robotics, a maker of shelf-scanning robots used in retail stores, laid off 50% of its (human) staff. The decision comes after Walmart ended its contract with Bossa Nova, finding that humans were equally capable of doing the robots’ job. Walmart had been using 500 of Bossa Nova’s robots, so those robots will presumably need to look for new work as well.

🏢 Remedy ∙ 🌎 Austin∙ 👩 82 employees ∙🔗Source

  • Remedy, a telehealth startup that provides mobile urgent care, laid off 82 employees. The company said that many of the affected employees were recent hires that were added to meet demand during the peak of the pandemic.

🏢 Knotel ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 20 employees (8%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Knotel, which leases office space to companies, cut 20 employees in its second layoff of the year. The company previously laid off or furloughed 195 employees in March, as demand for office space plummets during the pandemic.

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

Cheetah

Cheetah conducts layoff, cites challenges facing the restaurant industry

Layoff list, ,

🌎 San Francisco, CA ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

Cheetah, which delivers groceries and other supplies to restaurants, laid off an unknown number of employees last month. Following the layoff, the startup released a talent directory highlighting a few of its laid-off employees (see link below👇)

No public announcement of the layoff exists, but the company’s talent directory explains that “COVID-19 has hit the restaurant industry hard, and unfortunately Cheetah had to part with some of its most talented team members.”

In April, Cheetah announced that it had raised $36 million and was pivoting to sell groceries to consumers, not just wholesalers.

The Cheetah layoff list contains 26 people across multiple functions, based in the U.S. and Israel.

View list of employees laid off ->

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

Quibi

Quibi layoff list surfaces after company shuts down

Layoff list, ,

🌎 Los Angeles, CA ∙ 👩 100% of employees ∙ 🖥 All departments

Quibi, the hyped short-form video streaming service, shut down two weeks ago despite raising $1 billion in funding. In the wake of the shutdown, a layoff list has emerged showcasing ex-employees looking for new opportunities (see link below👇)

Started by entertainment and tech veterans Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, Quibi launched with much fanfare six months ago. The company hoped to create a new streaming service specifically geared towards smartphone consumption, in part by creating 10-minute episodes. However, the service struggled to gain traction, signing up only 500,000 subscribers compared to its initial target of 7 million.

Quibi’s layoff list contains roughly 150 people across multiple functions, primarily in the Los Angeles area.

View list of employees laid off ->

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

CodeCombat

CodeCombat launches alumni talent directory following layoff

Layoff list, ,

🌎 San Francisco, CA ∙ 👩 8 employees ∙ 🖥 Sales

CodeCombat, a programming game for learning how to code, laid off 8 employees, the company’s CEO told Layoffs.fyi. The Y Combinator graduate has raised $8.6 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

The company prepared a talent directory to help departing employees find new jobs (see link below 👇). CodeCombat’s layoff list includes 7 salespeople and 1 product manager across the country.

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 10/22/20

Roundup, , ,

Below is a recap of tech layoff news from recent weeks. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all tech layoffs during the pandemic.

🏢 Quibi ∙ 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 👩 100% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Quibi, the short-form video streaming service started by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, is shutting down. Despite raising $1 billion in funding and launching with much fanfare six months ago, the service struggled to gain traction, signing up only 500,000 subscribers compared to its initial target of 7 million.

🏢 Chef ∙ 🌎 Seattle ∙ 🔗Source

  • An unspecified number of employees were laid off at DevOps startup Chef following its $220 million acquisition by Progress. Those affected include a portion of Chef’s engineering team in Seattle and other locations.

🏢 Getyourguide ∙ 🌎 Berlin ∙ 👩 90 employees (17%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Berlin-based tourism startup Getyourguide laid off 90 employees due to the disruption of travel resulting from the global pandemic. The company offers a booking platform for sightseeing tours and other tourism activities.

Alto Pharmacy

Alto Pharmacy lays off 47 employees

Layoff list, ,

🌎 San Francisco, CA ∙ 👩 47 employees (6%) ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

Alto Pharmacy, an online delivery startup for prescription drugs, laid off 47 employees (6%), a company executive told Layoffs.fyi. The San Francisco-based startup is just months removed from a $250 million funding round led by Softbank.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a boon to telemedicine and prescription delivery startups in general. With fresh funding in the bank and the tailwinds of the pandemic, it’s not clear why Alto needed to perform a layoff.

Alto sent the following written statement:

Last week we made the difficult decision to eliminate a small percentage of the roles at Alto. As we continue to scale, we recognize the need to streamline operations and reallocate resources to better serve our customers and our continued long term growth. For those affected, we are grateful for their contributions to Alto and are working to support them with a significant severance and extended healthcare coverage. We are continuing to hire for roles critical to our mission and the service of our patients. We have never been more encouraged about our progress in building Alto and the need for a better pharmacy experience.

The company also prepared a talent directory to increase visibility for laid-off employees (see link below 👇)

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 10/1/20

Roundup, , ,

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

🏢 HumanForest ∙ 🌎 London ∙ 🔗Source

  • HumanForest, a U.K.-based free bike-sharing service, laid off staff after a mechanical defect caused an accident for one of its customers. The layoff comes shortly after the startup raised $2.3 million in seed funding. TechCrunch reports that employees were let go with short notice and minimal severance. HumanForest hopes to launch a new e-bike in spring 2021, and has suspended its London operations in the meantime.

🏢 WeWork ∙ 🌎 Shenzhen ∙ 🔗Source

  • WeWork sold majority control of its Chinese unit to a private equity firm in exchange for a $200 million investment. Now a Chinese-owned company, WeWork China experienced layoffs as a result of the sale.

🏢 The Wrap ∙ 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 🔗Source

  • LA-based digital media startup The Wrap laid off and furloughed staff earlier in the pandemic, as video and photo shoots were canceled and major events went digital. 80% of The Wrap’s revenue comes from advertising, despite its push to diversify with events revenue over the past few years. The Wrap recently hired a new chief revenue officer, and appears to be doubling down on advertising revenue now that COVID-19 has made live events impractical.

🏢 Air ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 16% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • When Air launched its fundraising process in April during the peak of pandemic uncertainty, the visual collaboration startup only had 4 months of cash left. Refusing to take out a PPP loan because “it felt wrong,” the New York-based company laid off 16% of its employees and moved out of its office to minimize spending. The story has a good ending — Air recently announced the successful completion of its $12 million Series A.

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

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.