Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 6/18/20

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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 startup layoffs during the coronavirus pandemic.

In case you missed it, our new Layoffs.fyi Severance Tracker tracks the details of severance packages offered by startups that have done layoffs. You can see how much each company gave in severance pay and healthcare coverage, whether they made any adjustments to employee stock options, and more.

On the whole, our analysis shows that the severance packages in COVID-19 layoffs have been more generous than in a typical employee termination — with some offering as much as 20 weeks of pay!

🏢 PaisaBazaar ∙ 🌎 Gurugram ∙ 👩 1,500 employees (50%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • India’s largest online marketplace for lending products, PaisaBazaar’s layoff mostly affected its operations and business acquisitions teams. Paisabazaar has seen demand for new loans drop by almost 90% in some segments. Lenders have become more selective about who they approve, leading to fewer new loans originated. U.S.-based Credit Sesame and LendingClub have suffered from a similar trend here.

🏢 Grab ∙ 🌎 Singapore ∙ 👩 360 employees (5%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • The largest ride-hailing startup in Southeast Asia, Grab is the latest in the category to cut staff, following layoffs at Uber (U.S.), Lyft (U.S.), Ola (India), and Careem (Middle East). Grab mentioned it would also be sunsetting non-core projects and redeploying staff to focus on its delivery business.

🏢 SynapseFI ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area∙ 👩 63 employees (48%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A startup that provides banking infrastructure to other fintech companies, SynapseFI also said it was shifting its customer-facing operations to San Antonio. Additionally, the company plans to move upmarket to serve larger enterprises, suggesting that its customer base of smaller startups proved to be too risky amid the coronavirus pandemic. In December, the company and its CEO were sued for gender and age discrimination.
Stockwell Logo

Stockwell AI is shutting down on July 1

Layoff list, ,

🌎 San Francisco Bay Area ∙ 👩 Company shutdown (100%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

A smart vending machine startup, Stockwell AI says it will be shutting down on July 1. The vending machine industry has suffered business losses of up to 90%, due to sanitation concerns during COVID-19 and the trend of people staying at home.

Stockwell has a layoff list (see link 👇) that dates back to February, but it’s unclear how many of the folks on this list are still looking for jobs.

View list of employees laid off ->

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

Introducing: the Layoffs.fyi Severance Tracker

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The cumulative damage of startup layoffs has been severe: 500 tech companies have now laid off 64,000+ employees during the pandemic. I wanted to find out — what have these companies been doing to mitigate the impact on laid-off employees?

I’m excited to announce the new Layoffs.fyi Severance Tracker, which tracks all known details of the severance packages offered, compiled from media reports and company announcements. You can see how much each company gave in severance pay and healthcare coverage, whether they made any adjustments to employee stock options, and more. You can also see which CEOs pledged to take a pay cut to show solidarity.

On the whole, the severance packages in COVID-19 layoffs have been more generous than in a typical employee termination, given that it was caused by reasons out of their control. 21 startups have offered over 8 weeks of severance pay, much more than the 2-week standard. Kitty Hawk tops the charts with a whopping 20 weeks of severance.

Many startups have also gone above and beyond in extending healthcare coverage, perhaps recognizing that in this environment, it will take longer than usual to find a new job. Insurance typically lasts through the end of the month of an employee’s termination, but 16 startups offered to extend benefits by at least 4 additional months. Airbnb and GoSpotCheck lead the pack with a full 12 months of extended healthcare benefits.

Other assistance commonly offered include outplacement services, help with resume preparation, and allowing employees to keep their company-issued laptop. As Layoffs.fyi has been highlighting, companies like Airbnb, Uber, and Samsara have also been launching official alumni talent directories to promote their ex-employees.

Which startups have been the most generous to laid-off employees? Of the 500 startups with layoffs, 10 of them offered more than 8 weeks of severance pay and more than 4 months of extended healthcare coverage: Kitty Hawk, Kickstarter, Airbnb, TrueCar, Carta, Glassdoor, Uber, Greenhouse, Brex, and Opendoor. Airbnb and Carta have also been praised for the transparency and empathy displayed in their layoff communication.

CompanySeverance PayHealthcare CoverageLayoff Date
Kitty Hawk20 weeksThrough 20206/3/20
Kickstarter4 months4-6 months5/13/20
AirbnbAt least 14 weeks12 months5/5/20
TrueCar13 weeks plus 1 week for every year of serviceThrough 20205/28/20
Carta3 monthsThrough 20204/15/20
Glassdoor3 monthsThrough 20205/7/20
Uber10 weeksThrough 20205/18/20
Greenhouse 8 weeksThrough 20204/17/20
Brex8 weeksThrough 20205/29/20
Opendoor8 weeks16 weeks4/15/20

There’s no denying the financial and psychological devastation felt by someone who suddenly loses their job. It’s nice to see that, at least in some cases, startup employers are trying to cushion the blow.

Check out the Layoffs.fyi Severance Tracker for full details of severance packages offered by company. Have info about a severance package? Let us know!

Newfront Insurance

Newfront Insurance layoff list released

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🌎 San Francisco Bay Area ∙ 👩 94 employees ∙ 🖥 All departments

Newfront Insurance, a commercial insurance brokerage, laid off 94 employees in April. The company said at the time that the layoff was concentrated in its engineering, recruiting, strategic growth, and operations teams. It added that the cuts were “business-related and not in any way reflective of these individuals’ performance.”

On Friday, the company released a Newfront Alumni List (see link 👇), designed to “keep track of the talented people now looking for their next adventure.” The official Newfront layoff list contains 23 ex-employees actively looking for a job, mostly from their Operations and People & Talent functions.

Newfront offered laid-off employees severance packages and extensions of the exercise window on stock options. The company also said it slashed most of its executive pay by 20% and cut its co-founders’ salaries to zero.

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 6/11/20

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Startup layoffs continue to decline! 📉 This week is on track to extend the 8-week downward trend we highlighted on Monday. For another look, check out TechCrunch’s analysis of the Layoffs.fyi data.

Below is a recap of the layoffs from this past week. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know.

As always, the Layoffs.fyi Tracker maintains a comprehensive list of all startup layoffs since COVID-19.

🏢 Lastline ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 50 employees (40%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A network security startup, Lastline announced that it is being acquired by VMware. As part of the acquisition, VMware will be laying off 40% of Lastline’s team (around 50 employees).

🏢 The Athletic ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 46 employees (8%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A sports news website, The Athletic saw new subscriber growth drop by 20-30% due to the hiatus of live sports. The NBA will be the first major sports league to resume (on July 31), since MLB continues to squabble and can’t get its act together 😡🤬.. Laid-off employees will receive 4 weeks of severance pay, health insurance coverage through the end of the year, full acceleration of unvested stock options, and an extension of the exercise period to one year.

🏢 Builder ∙ 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 👩 39 employees (14%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A startup that makes it easy to build software without code, Builder.ai’s layoff was concentrated in its Los Angeles office. In addition, some U.K. staffers were placed on furlough, and remaining employees will be required to take a temporary pay cut. The company has experienced a drop in orders during the pandemic.

🏢 Credit Sesame∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 22 employees (14%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A provider of free credit monitoring, Credit Sesame earns revenue by making commissions from its credit card and loan partners. The company implied that its revenue has been affected by tightening credit markets, which has made it hard for consumers to borrow money or obtain credit. Larger rival Credit Karma announced last month that it was instituting pay cuts of between 15-50% and freezing promotions.

🏢 Ethos Life ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 18 employees (14%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A provider of life insurance, Ethos Life said the layoff was caused by “uncertainty with future consumer demand and capital markets.” Ethos had grown its team size from 30 employees in the beginning of 2019 to almost 130 people prior to the layoff.

Startup layoffs decline to lowest level since mid-March

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After peaking in mid-May, the number of new employees laid off from tech startups has declined to its lowest level since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

2,803 employees were laid off from tech startups during the week of 5/27-6/2. This represents the lowest weekly number since the week of 3/18-3/24, and is 68% lower than the pandemic peak 2 weeks ago.

The number of startups cutting jobs continues to fall as well. Only 16 startups conducted layoffs during the week of 5/27-6/2. There’s now been a clear downward trend over the past 8 weeks, ever since a whooping 100 startups cut jobs during the week of 4/1-4/7.

Although both the number of layoffs and the number of employees laid off have been falling, the average layoff has gotten bigger. Of the 10 biggest tech layoffs since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, 6 of them have occurred in the past month. Stitch Fix laid off 1,400 workers just last Monday.

Company# Laid Off%IndustryDate
Uber6,70025%Transportation5/6, 5/18
Groupon2,80044%Retail4/13
Airbnb1,90025%Travel5/5
Agoda1,50025%Travel5/18
Stitch Fix1,40018%Retail6/1
Ola1,40035%Transportation5/20
Stone1,30020%Finance5/12
Toast1,30050%Food4/7
Swiggy1,10014%Food5/18
Magic Leap1,00050%Consumer4/22

In total, 490+ startups have now laid off 63,000+ employees during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Layoffs.fyi Tracker.

Though the cumulative damage has been severe, there are signs that the worst may be behind us. Mirroring the trend in tech layoffs, nationwide unemployment filings also recently reached its lowest weekly level since mid-March. And the overall unemployment rate unexpectedly fell last week, a major surprise compared to prior forecasts.

As states ease months-long lockdown restrictions, the tech sectors hit hardest by layoffs (like transportation, travel, and retail) may finally be recovering. Yesterday, Airbnb reported a surge in domestic rental bookings following months of pent-up demand. And Lyft announced that rides booked grew 26% in May compared to April.

Though recent signs look promising, people are still tempering their expectations. “I had a rule that even in our darkest of hours I wouldn’t get too low because that’s just a moment in time,” Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told Bloomberg. “And if I can’t get too low, then I can’t get too up.”

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 6/4/20

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Here’s a recap of the startup layoffs from this past week. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know!

See the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a comprehensive list of all startup layoffs since COVID-19.

🏢 Stitch Fix ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 1,400 employees (18%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An online personal styling service, Stitch Fix said it will lay off 1,400 stylist employees in California between now and the end of September. It plans to replace these employees by hiring 2,000 stylists in lower-cost cities over the coming year. Laid-off employees will have the opportunity to relocate; those who don’t will receive 2 weeks or more of severance, extended healthcare, and a bonus for staying through the transition period.

🏢 TrueCar ∙ 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 👩 219 employees (30%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An automotive pricing website, TrueCar says the cuts come in anticipation of the termination of its revenue-sharing partnership with USAA. The timing and scope of the layoff was further accelerated by COVID-19. Laid-off employees will receive 13 weeks of base pay plus 1 week for each additional year of service beyond the first, along with healthcare coverage through 2020.

🏢 Monzo ∙ 🌎 London ∙ 👩 120 employees (8%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A London-based digital bank, Monzo is laying off 120 of its U.K. employees. This comes on top of the 165 employees it laid off when it shut down its Las Vegas customer support office in April. The company also previously furloughed 295 U.K. employees. As consumers pull back on spending, Monzo generates less revenue from the interchange fees on its debit card products.

🏢 Kitty Hawk ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 “Most of” a 70-person team ∙ 🔗Source

  • Backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, Kitty Hawk is shutting down its electric flying car initiative and laying off most of that team’s 70 employees. However, the company is still working on a different autonomous electric aircraft initiative. Laid-off employees will receive at least 20 weeks of severance based on tenure, along with health insurance coverage through the end of the year.

🏢 Acorns ∙ 🌎 Portland∙ 👩 55 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Last week, Portland Business Journals reported that Acorns was shutting down its Portland office. A source tells Layoffs.fyi that over 55 employees were laid off as well, and that the support team was offshored. According to the source, Acorns closed both its Portland and Delaware offices and laid off most of its staff in New York.

🏢 Rivian ∙ 🌎 Detroit ∙ 👩 40 employees (2%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An electric vehicle company, Rivian confirmed it laid off 40 employees in its Plymouth, Michigan office. One laid-off employee tells Layoffs.fyi that the actual number may be higher. In another example of differing accounts, The Verge reported that “former employees say they believe the cuts were related to the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, though Rivian says they were performance-based.”

🏢 SpotHero ∙ 🌎 Chicago ∙ 👩 40 employees (21%)∙ 🔗Source

  • An app that helps people find parking spots, SpotHero has now reduced its staff by 70 employees across two rounds of layoffs since March. Parking solutions are in less demand now that people are staying at home.

🏢 Fundbox ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 14 employees (15%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A small business lending company, Fundbox announced a $20 million extension to its $326 million Series C in conjunction with the layoff. The company is also cutting management salaries by an unspecified amount. Fundbox says the COVID-19 crisis has harmed small and medium-sized businesses, which form the core of the company’s customer base.

🏢 MakerBot ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 12 employees

  • A creator of 3D printers, MakerBot laid off a dozen employees amid declining revenues caused by school closures, according to an internal memo viewed by Layoffs.fyi. MakerBot’s layoff was part of a broader staffing cut by parent company Stratasys, which is laying off 240 employees in total.
Juul

Juul layoff list emerges; 1,550+ employees have been cut in the past year

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🌎 San Francisco Bay Area ∙ 👩 1,550 employees ∙ 🖥 All departments

Juul, a maker of e-cigarettes, laid off 900 employees (30%) last month in a move unrelated to the coronavirus. The company has been mired in controversy over its role in the rise of underage vaping.

Juul also laid off 650 employees last October, bringing the total number of employees cut in the past year to 1,550.

In the wake of these layoffs, two separate lists of ex-Juul employees have emerged (see links below 👇). The official Juul Labs Alumni List contains 49 ex-employees actively looking for a job, though not all are from the most recent round of layoffs. The unofficial Juul layoff spreadsheet contains 79 ex-employees, but most were from last October’s layoff and may have already found new jobs.

View official list of employees laid off ->

View unofficial list of employees laid off ->

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

Brex

Brex laid off 62 employees to “prioritize building over growing”

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🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩 62 employees (15%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

Brex, which provides credit cards to other startups, announced Friday that it laid off 62 employees (15%). Brex said it was “restructuring the company to prioritize building over growing over the next year” due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The company’s customers are predominantly other startups. As startups reduce their spending or go out of business, Brex makes less money from the interchange fees on its credit card product.

Brex is providing laid-off employees with 8 weeks of severance pay and health insurance through the end of 2020. The company is also waiving its 1-year equity cliff and extending the exercise period on vested stock options. Employees will be allowed to keep their company-issued computer.

See link below 👇 for an opt-in spreadsheet of employees laid off. 8 individuals were listed as of early Monday morning, but more may be added over time.

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 5/28/20

Roundup, , , ,

Here’s a recap of the startup layoffs from this past week. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know!

As always, the Layoffs.fyi Tracker maintains a comprehensive list of all startup layoffs since COVID-19. There’s now a new “Layoff Charts” tab too 📈! Check it out for real-time graphs of startup layoffs by month, industry, and location — all updated automatically.

And if you’re into data visualization, the team at Bloomberg made some cool graphics today using Layoffs.fyi data.

🏢 Uber India ∙ 🌎 Bengaluru ∙ 👩 600 employees (23%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Ridesharing company Uber said that the cuts in India were part of its broader plan to reduce workforce. Laid-off employees will receive at least 10 weeks of severance and 6 months of healthcare coverage. Uber’s main competitor in India, Ola, laid off 1,400 employees last week.

🏢 Cvent ∙ 🌎 Washington D.C. ∙ 👩 400 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An event management platform, Cvent has been deeply impacted by the widescale decline of in-person meetings and events. Its CEO said that its customers are in many of the industries that have been hit hardest by COVID-19: event planning, hospitality, and corporate travel. The company is shifting its own flagship event in August to be completely virtual.

🏢 Instructure ∙ 🌎 Salt Lake City ∙ 👩 150 employees (12%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A provider of learning management software, Instructure is also closing its satellite offices (including Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, and London) in favor of its Salt Lake City headquarters. Instructure was acquired by a private equity firm in March. Even though the new owner reportedly promised it wouldn’t shrink staff, it’s not too surprising that a layoff happened anyway, given the propensity of PE firms to cut costs.

🏢 Bluprint ∙ 🌎 Denver∙ 👩 137 employees (100%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A provider of online crafts classes, Bluprint will be shutting down by the end of August. Originally named Craftsy and acquired by NBCUniversal in 2017, Bluprint’s layoffs will begin around July 22 and end when operations are closed.

🏢 Glitch ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 18 employees (36%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A collaborative coding platform, Glitch cited market conditions as context for the layoff and said it needed to “significantly cut operating costs” to ensure “long-term viability.” The company is offering severance pay, health insurance, and support finding a new job to laid-off employees.

🏢 Acorns ∙ 🌎 Portland ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • An app that lets users invest their spare change, Acorns is shutting down its Portland office and consolidating staff to its Irvine headquarters. Some employees will be moving locations, though one source tells Layoffs.fyi that others are being laid off. Acorns inherited the Portland office in 2017 after acquiring retirement savings startup Vault, and subsequently grew the office to around 30 people.