Tag: Education

CodeCombat

CodeCombat launches alumni talent directory following layoff

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🌎 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 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 5/28/20

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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!

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.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 4/23/20

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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.
Wonderschool

Wonderschool lays off 75% of employees due to shelter-in-place

Layoff list, ,

🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 50 employees (75%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

Wonderschool, which helps people start their own home-based preschools or daycares, laid off 50 employees (75% of staff). Their childcare programs have been impacted by shelter-in-place orders, since families are now keeping their kids at home.

A list of affected employees, particularly in Engineering and Partnerships, is circulating on a crowdsourced spreadsheet for Coronavirus-related layoffs (see link below 👇).

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: Thurs 3/26/20

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Coronavirus-related tech layoffs continue to pile up this week, particularly in real estate and travel. 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!

Real estate

  • Sonder, which offers short-term apartment rentals, laid off or furloughed 400 employees. Bookings are down 20% at the company’s 5,000 apartments.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 400 employees (33%) ∙ 🔗The Real Deal
  • Zeus Living, which rents out furnished apartments on a monthly basis to business travelers, laid off 80 employees.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 80 employees (30%) ∙ 🔗Crunchbase News
  • The Guild, which offers short-term stays at luxury apartments, laid off 38 employees.
    • 🌎 Austin ∙ 👩‍💼 38 employees (22%) ∙ 🔗Austin Inno

Travel

  • TripActions, whose software helps companies manage corporate travel, laid off 300 workers. The layoffs primarily affected customer support, recruiting, and sales. Employees were notified of the layoff via a group Zoom call.
    • 🌎 Palo Alto ∙ 👩‍💼 300 employees (25%) ∙ 🔗TechCrunch
  • Cabin, a luxury sleeper-bus service, laid off an unknown (but likely small) number of employees.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 Unknown # affected ∙ 🔗The Information

Other industries

  • Leafly, an online resource on cannabis, laid off 91 employees.
    • 🌎 Seattle ∙ 👩‍💼 91 employees (50%) ∙ 🔗GeekWire
  • Foodsby, which delivers restaurant food to office buildings, laid off 80 people. Demand is down since restaurants are closing and customers are no longer going into the office.
    • 🌎Minneapolis ∙ 👩‍💼 80 employees (67%) ∙ 🔗Minne Inno
  • Rangle, a development agency, initiated a temporary layoff for 78 staffers. Rangle’s clients are paring back spending due to the coronavirus pandemic.
    • 🌎 Toronto ∙ 👩‍💼 78 employees (30%) ∙ 🔗BetaKit
  • OutboundEngine, which creates marketing software for small businesses, laid off 52 employees.
    • 🌎 Austin ∙ 👩‍💼 52 employees (28%) ∙ 🔗BizJournals
  • Wonderschool, which helps people start their own in-home preschools or daycares, laid off 50 employees. Shelter-in-place orders means that parents are keeping their kids at home.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 50 employees (75%) ∙ 🔗EdSurge
  • SpotHero, an app that helps people find parking spots, laid off an unknown number of employees. Urban parking isn’t a problem when people are staying at home.
    • 🌎 Chicago ∙ 👩‍💼 Unknown # affected ∙ 🔗Chicago Inno
  • Eight Sleep, an online mattress retailer, laid off 20% of staff.