Category: Roundup

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 5/21/20

Roundup, , , , ,

The number of newly-reported startup layoffs continues to decline, though each one is now affecting 3x more employees on average. This past week saw a massive layoff from Uber, alongside other notable cuts mentioned below. The total count is now up to 58,000+ startup employees laid off since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a comprehensive list. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know!

🏢 Ola ∙ 🌎 Bengaluru ∙ 👩 1,400 employees (35%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An India-based ridesharing company, Ola said revenue has dropped by 95% in the last two months due to stay-at-home orders. Laid-off employees will receive 3 months of severance, along with “healthcare and emotional support until the end of the year.” It’s not clear who will be providing the emotional support.

🏢 Deliv ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 669 employees (100%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A service that enables brick-and-mortar stores to offer same-day deliveries, Deliv announced that it was shutting down operations and selling some of its technology to Target. The company is laying off at least 669 workers and will wind down its business over the next 90 days. Even though delivery businesses like Amazon, Target, and Uber Eats are surging during the pandemic, Deliv’s business depends on customers like Best Buy, Macy’s, and Walgreens, who have been severely impacted by shelter-in-place orders.

🏢 Cruise ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 150 employees (8%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A self-driving car startup owned by GM, Cruise becomes the most prominent (though certainly not the only) autonomous vehicle company to cut staff. AV companies like Cruise, Zoox, and Ike were already bleeding money with little revenue — now, their vehicles are also sitting idle because social distancing measures mean that backup drivers can’t be used for self-driving tests. Cruise’s layoff largely avoided touching its engineering team.

🏢 SoFi ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 112 employees (7%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A personal finance startup, SoFi is positioning its staffing reduction not as a layoff but as a performance-driven cut. The company implied that the employees cut were falling short of their performance expectations. One source told Layoffs.fyi that 37 engineers were affected.

🏢 Quartz ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 80 employees (40%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A business news site, Quartz said its layoff was focused on its advertising department, though over 20 journalists were also affected. The company is planning to transition its business model from advertising-supported to subscription-based. Quartz is led by ace journalist and former Harvard Crimson editor Zach Seward.

🏢 Integral Ad Science ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 70 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An ad verification company, Integral Ad Science joins the growing number of ad tech startups (and ad-supported media businesses) confronting a broader pullback in ad spending. Similar companies that have conducted layoffs include Rubicon Project, OpenX, GumGum, TripleLift, VideoAmp, MediaMath, Sojern, and AdRoll.

🏢 Intercom ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 39 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of customer messaging software, Intercom is also relocating 47 roles in its marketing and R&D teams from San Francisco to Dublin, in addition to the layoff.

🏢 Divvy ∙ 🌎 Salt Lake City ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees

  • A platform for expense reports, Divvy conducted a mass layoff on Tuesday, according to multiple LinkedIn posts. One source tells Layoffs.fyi that over 100 people were cut.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 5/14/20

Roundup, , , , , ,

This past week saw layoffs from a number of notable startups, including 4(!) data analytics companies (Mixpanel, Segment, Mode Analytics, and ThoughtSpot).

Check out our tracker for a more comprehensive list. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know!

🏢 Stone ∙ 🌎 Sao Paulo ∙ 👩1,300 employees (20%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A Brazilian payments processor, Stone has seen a decline in the volume of credit and debit card transactions processed by the company. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 8% of Stone, which held a hotly-anticipated IPO in 2018.

🏢 Jump ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩500 employees (100%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • As part of Uber’s $170 million investment in Lime, Uber is offloading money-losing subsidiary Jump, an e-bike and e-scooter startup it acquired in 2018. Reports suggest that all 400-500 Jump employees were laid off, though some were offered interview opportunities at Lime.

🏢 Glassdoor ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 300 employees (30%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An online job board, Glassdoor is the latest recruiting startup to announce layoffs. ZipRecruiter, Greenhouse, Lever, and Triplebyte have all made cuts in recent weeks due to the slowing pace of hiring across the country. Affected employees will receive at least 3 months of severance, accelerated vesting through the severance period, and reimbursed health insurance through the end of 2020.

🏢 Flatiron School ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 100 employees (31%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A coding bootcamp acquired by WeWork in 2017, Flatiron School is closing its Atlanta and London campuses, as well as its design program, in conjunction with the layoff. The cuts were focused on Flatiron School’s design and marketing teams, and come on top off the thousands already laid off by parent company WeWork.

🏢 Zeus Living ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 73 employees (50%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A corporate housing startup, Zeus Living’s 50% layoff comes two months after it already laid off 30% of its team. Last week the company was forced to raise funding at almost half its valuation from December. The company expects revenue to decline by 45% due to the slowdown of business travel caused by COVID-19.

🏢 Mixpanel ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 65 employees (19%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An analytics tool that measures user engagement, Mixpanel’s layoff spanned across sales, marketing and G&A positions. No roles in engineering, product, or design were affected. Half of the layoffs were in San Francisco.

🏢 SalesLoft ∙ 🌎 Atlanta ∙ 👩 55 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • SalesLoft said that the users of its sales engagement software have been getting laid off, causing SalesLoft itself to do a layoff. The event is an example of the second-order effects of the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus.

🏢 Segment ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 50 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A data analytics startup, Segment cited economic conditions as the reason for its layoff, but did not elaborate further.

🏢 Cadre ∙ 🌎New York City ∙ 👩 28 employees (25%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An online marketplace for commercial real estate investments, Cadre has been hurt by the sudden slowdown in the real estate market. The company is offering laid-off employees health insurance through the end of 2020 and an extension of the post-termination exercise period on vested stock options to two years.

🏢 Kickstarter ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 25 employees (18%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter lost not only the 25 employees it laid off, but also an additional 30 employees that accepted its voluntary separation package. One of the few tech companies whose employees are unionized, Kickstarter is offering departed employees 4 months of severance, 4-6 months of health insurance, a release from non-compete obligations, and priority consideration if the eliminated position re-opens within a year.

🏢 Mode Analytics ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 17 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A business intelligence tool, Mode Analytics laid off 17 employees across sales, marketing, support, engineering, product, and recruiting.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 5/7/20

Roundup, , , , , , , ,

This week saw huge layoffs from Uber, Airbnb, and Juul. These 3 layoffs rank among the top 10 biggest in tech since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic.

Below are a few of the startup layoffs from this past week. Check out our tracker for a more comprehensive list. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know!

🏢 Uber ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩3,700 employees (14%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Ridesharing service Uber laid off 3,700 employees from its customer support and recruiting teams. The CEO’s letter to staff strongly hints that more cuts are coming in the next two weeks, including in engineering and product. As many as 5,400 employees are expected to ultimately be laid off.

🏢 Juul ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩900 employees (30%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of e-cigarettes, Juul has been mired in controversy over its role in the rise of underage vaping. Its layoff is unrelated to the coronavirus. Juul is also planning to move its headquarters from San Francisco to Washington D.C., partially because its products are now banned in SF.

🏢 CureFit ∙ 🌎 Bengaluru ∙ 👩 800 employees (16%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An India-based fitness startup, CureFit also permanently closed a number of its gyms. The coronavirus lockdown has crushed fitness companies, including U.S.-based ClassPass (53% of team laid off or furloughed) and Brazil-based Gympass (467 employees laid off).

🏢 Careem ∙ 🌎 Dubai ∙ 👩 536 employees (31%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A ridesharing service acquired by Uber last year, Careem was one of the Middle East’s biggest startups. However, its business has dropped 80% post-coronavirus. Laid-off employees will receive at least 3 months of severance, 1 month of equity vesting, and extended visa and health insurance through 2020.

🏢 Namely ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 160 employees (40%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of HR and payroll software, Namely noted that its SMB customers have been downsizing as a result of the pandemic. This has led to lower revenue for Namely, which makes money in part via a per-employee monthly fee.

🏢 Kayak / OpenTable ∙ 🌎 Stamford ∙ 👩 160 employees (8%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Kayak and OpenTable, both subsidiaries of Booking Holdings Inc., laid off 160 employees and furloughed another 240 employees. The company’s revenue has “dropped tremendously from the COVID-19 crisis.”

🏢 Oyo ∙ 🌎 London ∙ 👩 150 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • The self-proclaimed “world’s fastest growing hotel chain,” India-based Oyo plans to lay off 150-200 of its 300 employees in the UK. Oyo has already let go or furloughed thousands of employees globally in recent months. Its occupancy rate and revenue have dropped by over 50-60% since earlier this year.

🏢 Andela ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 135 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An Africa-focused startup that provides “engineering as a service,” Andela expects a decline in customers due to the economic downturn. The company is also shifting its strategy from acting as a talent accelerator to serving as a talent outsourcing firm. No engineers were part of the layoff.

🏢 Care.com ∙ 🌎Boston ∙ 👩 81 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • An online marketplace of caregivers, Care.com said its layoff was not related to the coronavirus. Rather, the cuts are the result of Care.com’s acquisition by IAC in February.

🏢 Stack Overflow ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 40 employees (15%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A popular Q&A site for engineers, Stack Overflow has been hardest hit in its Talent business, which helps companies recruit and hire developers. Most of the affected employees were furloughed, though some were permanently laid off.

🏢 TheSkimm ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 26 employees (20%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A media startup targeted towards millennial women, TheSkimm is offering laid-off employees at least one month of severance and health insurance through July. Digital media companies have suffered declining revenue as brands pull back on advertising during the economic slowdown.

Layoffs Roundup: Wed 4/29/20

Roundup, , , , , , , ,

Although the number of new startup layoffs thankfully declined this past week, there were deep cuts from companies like Lyft, TripAdvisor, and Deliveroo.

Below are a few of the recent layoffs. You can check our tracker for a more comprehensive report. As always, if you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know!

🏢 Lyft ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩982 employees (17%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Ridesharing company Lyft has seen demand drop as people stay at home. Rival Uber is reportedly discussing a layoff as well (to the tune of 5,000 people), though those cuts have not been finalized.

🏢 TripAdvisor ∙ 🌎 Boston ∙ 👩900 employees (25%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • In conjunction with the layoff, TripAdvisor closed its San Francisco and downtown Boston offices. It is also pausing 401(k) matching 😢and reducing pay and hours to reflect a 4-day workweek. TripAdvisor became the latest travel company to conduct layoffs, joining Sonder (400 laid off on 3/24), TripActions (300 on 3/25), TravelTriangle (250 on 3/28), and Fareportal (200 on 3/26).

🏢 Deliveroo ∙ 🌎 London ∙ 👩 367 employees (15%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An online food delivery service, Deliveroo blamed the layoff on the coronavirus pandemic. Although demand for meal delivery has risen due to shelter-in-place, consumers may increasingly decide to save money by cooking instead, something my wife told me I should also consider.

🏢 Automation Anywhere ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 260 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A robotic process automation platform, Automation Anywhere said it needed to cut costs to adjust to the economic fallout caused by COVID-19. Although a startup that automates repetitive manual tasks would seemingly benefit from the pandemic, most of Automation Anywhere’s customers have its software installed on their own servers, in their own offices (that are now closed).

🏢 StockX ∙ 🌎 Detroit ∙ 👩 100 employees (12%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A resale marketplace for sneakers, StockX has been negatively impacted by the plummeting demand for sneakers during the economic slowdown. The resale price of the 2020 Off-White Air Jordan V, for example, has dropped from a high of $986 to a low of $657 (which still sounds really expensive??)

🏢 Zenefits ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 87 employees (15%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of HR and payroll software, Zenefits cited the coronavirus pandemic as the cause of the layoff. The company is running a number of coronavirus-related initiatives, including offering one year of free payroll for small business customers.

🏢 App Annie ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 80 employees (18%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A mobile analytics startup, App Annie said the layoff would help it become self-sufficient.

🏢 Sisense ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 80 employees (9%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of business analytics software, Sisense is projecting lower growth due to economic slowdown. Accordingly, its cuts were reportedly concentrated in their sales and marketing teams.

🏢 WeWork ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 74 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Beleaguered co-working company WeWork is laying off another 74 employees, including 60 from its 655 Montgomery St. location. WeWork had already cut thousands of employees in prior rounds of layoffs.

🏢 Oscar Health ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 70 employees (5%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A health insurance company, Oscar Health said the layoff was needed to meet budget goals. The company, co-founded by Josh Kushner (whose brother is President Trump’s son-in-law), has been criticized for potential conflicts of interest related to COVID-19 testing.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 4/23/20

Roundup, , , , , , ,

Almost 300 startups have now laid off nearly 30,000 employees since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Below are a few notable layoffs from this past week. You can check our tracker for a more comprehensive report. As always, if you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know!

🏢 Magic Leap ∙ 🌎 Miami ∙ 👩 1,000 employees (50%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • One of the most prominent augmented reality startups, Magic Leap decided to abandon its consumer business and instead focus on enterprise use cases. Despite raising over $2 billion in funding, the company has found it challenging to release a mainstream product or generate meaningful revenue.

🏢 Lending Club ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 460 employees (30%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An online lender, Lending Club said its layoff was the result of tightening credit markets and a drop in demand for personal loans, the company’s flagship product.

🏢 Houzz ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 155 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An online platform for home remodeling, Houzz said that social distancing measures has led to lower demand for its pro subscriptions, which connect home remodeling professionals with potential customers. Houzz is providing laid-off employees with severance packages based on tenure and 3 months of benefits.

🏢 CarGurus ∙ 🌎 Boston ∙ 👩 130 employees (13%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A marketplace for cars, CarGurus said that dealers have been forced to close due to stay-at-home orders, “effectively pausing vehicle sales.”

🏢 Greenhouse Software ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 120 employees (28%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of applicant tracking software, Greenhouse is the latest recruiting startup to conduct a layoff. Competitor Lever laid off 86 employees (40%) a week before. Greenhouse is offering laid-off employees 8 weeks of severance and 8 months of healthcare.

🏢 ConsenSys ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 91 employees (14%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An incubator of Ethereum projects, ConsenSys cited the coronavirus pandemic as the cause of its layoff. However, the company did not elaborate on exactly how the pandemic has affected its business.

🏢 Casper ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 78 employees (21%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A direct-to-consumer mattress startup, Casper also decided to close its European operations. The company hopes the job cuts will help it achieve profitability by mid-2021. One laid-off employee said, “though I am unsure what tomorrow holds, I do know that before tomorrow must come a good night’s sleep.”

🏢 Freshbooks ∙ 🌎 Toronto ∙ 👩 38 employees (9%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An accounting software company, Freshbooks said its small business customers have been affected by the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus. Freshbooks was planning to raise additional capital before COVID-19, suggesting that one motivation for the layoff was to extend the company’s cash runway.

🏢 Sweetgreen ∙ 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 👩 35 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A fast casual salad chain, Sweetgreen’s business has plummeted because of shelter-in-place. An employee said that app order volume has fallen by 2/3. Sweetgreen raised $150 million in funding last year, becoming possibly the only salad restaurant ever to raise venture capital.

🏢 Patreon ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 30 employees (13%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Patreon, which enables artists and creators to accept money from their fans, said that the layoff was caused by “several other factors beyond the financial ones.” It cited a recent performance review cycle and a new company strategy, in addition to the current economic uncertainty.

🏢 People.ai ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 30 employees (18%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of predictive sales software, People.ai denied that the coronavirus pandemic has had any negative effect on its business. It said the layoff was simply to protect against future uncertainty. As would be expected of a sales startup, People.ai also listed multiple examples of how the company is in an extremely strong position.

🏢 Lambda School ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 19 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A training program for aspiring software engineers, Lambda School said the layoff was meant to reflect a shift in priority away from growth and towards student experience. The startup has recently received criticism for the quality of its program and for engaging in misleading marketing.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 4/16/20

Roundup, , , , ,

Layoffs continue to ripple through the startup ecosystem. Notable events from the past 2 days include a 35% layoff from Opendoor and a 30% layoff from VSCO.

Below are a few other recent layoffs. Check our tracker for a comprehensive report. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know so we can help the affected people!

  • The RealReal, an online marketplace for consigned luxury goods, laid off 10% of its employees and furloughed another 15%. Retailers and e-commerce companies have been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, due to stay-at-home orders and a pullback in consumer discretionary spending.
    • 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 235 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • GoPro, which makes action cameras, said it will cut over 200 employees. With fewer opportunities to sell through retail stores, the company will shift its focus to selling directly online.
    • 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 200 employees (20%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Zume, which uses robots to make pizza while it’s being delivered, laid off 2/3 of its team. The CEO decided against using similarly-named Zoom to announce the layoff, choosing instead to send out a company-wide email.
    • 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 200 employees (67%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Carta, which makes software that helps companies manage the equity they’ve issued to investors and employees, laid off 161 people (16%). It believes a slower economy will lead to fewer customers than originally projected. Carta is providing affected employees 3 months of pay and healthcare insurance until the end of the year.
    • 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 161 employees (16%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • TouchBistro, a point-of-sale system for restaurants, laid off 131 employees (23%). Most of its restaurant customers have closed due to shelter-in-place.
    • 🌎 Toronto ∙ 👩 131 employees (23%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Neon, a Brazil-based digital bank, laid off 70 employees (10%). Other Brazilian fintech startups like C6 Bank and Creditas have also recently conducted layoffs.
    • 🌎 Sao Paulo ∙ 👩 70 employees (10%)∙ 🔗Source
  • Envoy, which makes a front desk visitor sign-in system, laid off 30% of its staff (58 employees). Its business has been affected by office closures across the country.
    • 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 58 employees (30%) ∙ 🔗Source

Layoffs Roundup: Tues 4/14/20

Roundup, , , , , ,

The Layoffs.fyi Tracker has now confirmed 230 startups w/ layoffs and 22,000 employees laid off since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic.

Below are a few of the recent layoffs. Check our tracker for a comprehensive report. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know so we can help the affected people!

  • Groupon, a marketplace for discounts from local businesses, said it expects to lay off or furlough 44% of its team (2,800 employees). Previous reports suggested that only the sales and sales operations teams were affected, but the company’s announcement confirms a significantly deeper cut. Groupon has seen a “material deterioration” in its business due to the closure of local businesses it works with.
    • 🌎 Chicago ∙ 👩 2,800 employees (44%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Meow Wolf, an art collective that creates interactive experiences, laid off 201 employees. Its art installations and live events have been cancelled due to shelter-in-place.
    • 🌎 Santa Fe ∙ 👩 201 employees ∙ 🔗Source
  • Monzo, an online bank, closed its Las Vegas office and laid off all 165 customer support employees there. The decision was in the works prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
    • 🌎 Las Vegas ∙ 👩 165 employees ∙ 🔗Source
  • OneTrust, which makes software that helps companies comply with privacy regulations, laid off 10-15% of its 1,500 employees. The company raised funding at a $2.7 billion valuation just two months ago.
    • 🌎 Atlanta ∙ 👩 150 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Omie, a Brazilian startup that sells business management software to small businesses, laid off 136 employees (15%).
    • 🌎 Sao Paulo ∙ 👩 136 employees (15%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Zoox, a maker of self-driving taxis, is laying off 100 employees (10%). The news comes just one week after it laid off all 120 of its contract workers, including its backup drivers. Shelter-at-home orders have affected Zoox’s ability to continue testing its self-driving vehicles.
    • 🌎 San Francisco∙ 👩 100 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Domo, which creates business intelligence software to help executives manage their business, cut roughly 10% of its staff (about 90 people). The layoff was needed to ensure the company wouldn’t run out of money.
    • 🌎 Salt Lake City ∙ 👩 90 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Clinc, which uses AI to create virtual assistants, laid off 32% of its staff (40 employees). In February, the company’s CEO resigned after employee complaints of inappropriate behavior.
    • 🌎 Ann Arbor ∙ 👩 40 employees (32%)∙ 🔗Source
  • Mejuri, a startup that sells fine jewelry, laid off 15% of its team. Its retail stores have been closed since late March due to the ban on non-essential businesses.
    • 🌎 Toronto ∙ 👩 36 employees (15%) ∙ 🔗Source

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 4/9/20

Roundup, , , , ,

Unicorn startups and notable consumer brands headlined the layoff news over the past couple of days. In the 4 weeks since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, nearly 200 startups in total have conducted layoffs, affecting over 17,000 employees.

Below are a few of the recent layoffs. Check our Layoffs Tracker for a comprehensive report. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know so we can help the affected people!

  • Toast, which makes software for restaurants, cut 50% of its staff, or around 1,300 employees. Its success is “tightly coupled” with the restaurant industry, which has seen sales decline by 80% in most cities. Toast raised money at a $5 billion valuation in February.
    • 🌎 Boston ∙ 👩‍💼 1,300 employees (50%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Eventbrite, the ticketing and events website, laid off 45% of its employees. The company is highly dependent on live events, which have halted as a result of shelter-in-place. Its share price had fallen over 70% since mid-March.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 500 employees (45%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • ezCater, a corporate catering startup, laid off over 400 employees (44%). “We’re a company that feeds meetings, and meetings are not happening much right now,” the company said.
    • 🌎 Boston ∙ 👩‍💼 400 employees (44%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Redfin, a real estate brokerage, laid off 7% of staff and either cut or furloughed 41% of its field agents. The company said that most agents would earn more from unemployment insurance than from Redfin. New listings, home tours, and home sales have all cooled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
    • 🌎 Seattle ∙ 👩‍💼 236 employees (7%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Groupon, a marketplace for discounts from local businesses, conducted a round of layoffs and furloughs. The Chicago Tribune says that “significant portions” of its sales and sales operations teams were affected, while employee posts on LinkedIn suggests that the cuts spanned more broadly. Between 200-350 employees were laid off, according to these posts.
    • 🌎 Chicago ∙ 👩‍💼 200-350 employees ∙ 🔗Source
  • Newfront Insurance, a commercial insurance brokerage, laid off 94 employees. The startup has eschewed publicity but had grown headcount rapidly since founding in 2017.
    • 🌎 San Francisco∙ 👩‍💼 94 employees ∙ 🔗Source
  • Away, a direct-to-consumer maker of luggage and travel accessories, furloughed about half of its team and laid off an additional 10% (60 employees). Sales of its products have fallen by more than 90% over the past few weeks, since people are not traveling.
    • 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩‍💼 60 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Lever, which makes applicant tracking software, laid off 40% of its staff, according to a laid-off employee. The economic impact of COVID-19 has slowed down hiring (and as we know, increased the pace of layoffs). ZipRecruiter, another recruiting site, also held recent layoffs.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 40% of employees
  • Zola, a website for creating wedding registries, laid off 20% of its team. Due to social distancing measures, couples have been delaying their weddings en masse.
    • 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩‍💼 20% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

Layoffs Roundup: Mon 4/6/20

Roundup, , , , , , ,

Last week we tracked 50 startup layoffs affecting over 4,000 people. The post-Coronavirus tally has now crossed 10,000 employees laid off ☹️.

Below are a few of the recent layoffs. Check our Layoffs Tracker for a comprehensive report. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know so we can help the affected people!

  • MindBody, which creates scheduling software for gyms, fitness studios, and spas, laid off or furloughed 700 employees. Nearly 95% of their customers are closed due to shelter-at-home orders.
    • 🌎 San Luis Obispo ∙ 👩‍💼 700 employees (35%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Sojern, an ad-tech startup servicing travel companies, cut 300 employees, about half its staff. Travel advertising in general fell by as much as 90% in March.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 300 employees (50%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • AdRoll, an ad retargeting company, laid off 174 employees. According to an employee, the Salt Lake City and New York City offices were most affected.
    • 🌎 Salt Lake City ∙ 👩‍💼 174 employees
  • Velodyne Lidar, which designs sensor systems used in driverless cars for companies like Uber, laid off 140 employees. Workers say the company is using the coronavirus as an excuse when they’ve long been planning to transfer production overseas.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 140 employees ∙ 🔗Source
  • ThirdLove, a startup that sells bras and underwear, laid off 30% of its team. Other direct-to-consumer companies like Everlane and Brandless were struggling even before COVID-19 due to rising customer acquisition costs.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 94 employees (35%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Industrious, a provider of flexible office space, laid off 20% of its staff (90 employees) and enacted furloughs or reduced hours for another 10%. The company joins a growing list of modern real estate companies that have conducted layoffs, including WeWork, Sonder, and Knotel.
    • 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩‍💼 90 employees (20%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Arrive Logistics, a freight brokerage, cut 75 employees (7%) and furloughed another 35. It cited the coronavirus outbreak’s negative impact on freight markets.
    • 🌎 Austin ∙ 👩‍💼 75 employees (7%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Bustle Digital Group, a media company that owns Bustle, Elite Daily, and Mic, laid off 24 employees. The entire staff of The Outline, a culture site, was let go as part of the layoff.
    • 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩‍💼 24 employees ∙ 🔗Source
  • The Wing, a co-working space for women, laid off half of its headquarters staff. It said it saw 95% of its revenue “disappear overnight.”
    • 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩‍💼 50% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 4/2/20

Roundup, , , , , , ,

This week Layoffs.fyi has already tracked 23 startups that cut jobs, affecting over 1,500 employees. And there’s still two days left ☹️.

Below are a few of this week’s layoffs. Check out our Layoffs Tracker for a comprehensive, real-time report. If you’ve seen a layoff spreadsheet for any of these companies, please let us know!

  • KeepTruckin, which helps trucking companies manage their fleets, laid off 349 employees (18%). This comes just one month after the company’s previous round of layoffs.
  • Thumbtack, a marketplace for local services like cleaners and plumbers, laid off 250 employees (30%). Due to shelter-in-place, business has fallen by over 50% in markets like San Francisco, Detroit, and New York City.
    • 🌎 San Francisco, Salt Lake City ∙ 👩‍💼 250 employees (18%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Rover, a dog-walking and pet-sitting service, laid off 194 employees (41%). Pet owners no longer need Rover’s service because they’re now staying at home.
    • 🌎 Seattle ∙ 👩‍💼 194 employees (41%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • RigUp, which provides labor services to the energy industry, laid off 120 employees (25%). Oil and gas companies are in the middle of an economic downturn.
    • 🌎 Austin ∙ 👩‍💼 120 employees (25%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Turo, a car-sharing company, laid off 108 employees (30%). Consumers are no longer renting cars because of shelter-in-place. Competitor Getaround also conducted recent layoffs.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 108 employees (30%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • PatientPop, which helps healthcare providers manage the patient experience, laid off 100 employees, according to a LinkedIn post by an ex-employee.
    • 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 👩‍💼 100 employees
  • uShip, which makes shipping software, laid off 65 employees (37%).
    • 🌎 Austin ∙ 👩‍💼 65 employees (37%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Showpad, which makes software to improve sales teams’ productivity, laid off 52 employees (12%). It blamed the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus.
    • 🌎 Chicago ∙ 👩‍💼 52 employees (12%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • PeerStreet, a crowdfunding platform for investing in real estate loans, laid off 30% of their staff (50+ employees), according to an HR employee. Layoffs.fyi was the first to report the news.