Tag: Finance

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 9/3/20

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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 8/13/20

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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.

Zeitgold

Bookkeeping startup Zeitgold lays off 75 employees and pivots to tax prep software

Layoff list, , ,

🌎 Berlin, Tel Aviv ∙ 👩 75 employees (71%) ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

Zeitgold, a Berlin-based startup that automates bookkeeping for small businesses and their tax advisors, announced last week that it was sunsetting its main product. In conjunction, the company laid off 75 of its employees, leaving 30 people on the team.

Like other startups that have attempted to automate bookkeeping, Zeitgold discovered that despite years of technology development, its service still required large amounts of manual labor to deliver. Scaling such a service was unsustainable, Zeitgold ultimately concluded. The company will instead develop new products that can be delivered without human involvement, such as tax preparation software.

Following the layoff, Zeitgold launched a talent directory to showcase its former employees (see link 👇). The Zeitgold layoff list includes 62 ex-employees in Berlin and Tel Aviv.

The company raised a $29 million Series B just 3 months ago.

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 7/30/20

Roundup, , ,

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.

🏢 Swiggy ∙ 🌎 Bengaluru ∙ 👩 350 employees (5%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Swiggy, a food delivery startup based in India, cut 350 employees in a second round of layoffs. The company previously laid off 1,100 employees in May, but said that this will be the final round. Swiggy said that the food delivery industry has only recovered to about 50% of its peak order volume.

🏢 Procore ∙ 🌎Los Angeles ∙ 👩 180 employees (9%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Procore, which makes construction project management software, laid off 180 employees (9%). Laid-off employees will receive severance pay, health benefits through the end of 2020, computer equipment, and outplacement services. The company filed for an IPO in February.

🏢 tZERO∙ 🌎New York ∙ 👩 Unknown # of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • tZERO, a blockchain startup majority-owned by Overstock.com, laid off an unspecified number of employees. The company aims to cut costs in preparation for an external capital raise.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 7/23/20

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Although permanent layoffs have been the most common way to shrink staff during the pandemic, dozens of startups instituted furloughs to try to avoid a bigger layoff. Furloughed employees were kept on health insurance and told that their employment status would be revisited in a few months.

Now that the furlough period is ending for some of these employees, we’re starting to see what tech companies decide to do. In a positive sign, Yelp said last week that it would bring back “nearly all” of the 1,100 employees it furloughed in April.  

Other employees aren’t so lucky. Vox Media will reportedly lay off most of their furloughed employees, with additional job cuts coming on top. Hospitality startup Oyo laid off the “large majority” of its furloughed U.S. employees.

The Layoffs.fyi Tracker doesn’t count furloughs, but will be tracking which companies end up laying off their furloughed employees.

Below is a recap of the layoffs from this past week.

🏢 LinkedIn ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 960 employees (6%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Professional networking site LinkedIn laid off 960 employees (6%) across its Global Sales and Talent Acquisition teams. The company said its Talent Solutions business has been hurt due to a slowdown in hiring during the pandemic. Talent Solutions sells sourcing tools and job listings to help companies hire.

🏢 Lighter Capital ∙ 🌎 Seattle ∙ 👩 22 employees (49%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Lighter Capital, which provides revenue-based financing to startups, laid off 22 employees (49%). The company previously cut 22% in April. Lighter Capital’s loans are repaid from a startup’s future revenue. But with startups facing lower revenue projections in light to the pandemic, it’s likely that Lighter Capital’s lending model is under pressure.

🏢 Curefit ∙ 🌎 Bengaluru ∙ 👩 120 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • An India-based fitness startup, CureFit’s job cut affected 600 employees, 70-80% of whom were furloughed. The company previously laid off 800 employees in May. Fitness centers are part of India’s shutdown orders, and CureFit has had to permanently close a number of its gyms.
Monzo

Monzo launches layoff list amid multiple rounds of layoffs

Layoff list, ,

🌎 London ∙ 👩 Hundreds of employees ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

A London-based digital bank, Monzo laid off 120 of its U.K. employees in June and 165 of its Las Vegas employees in April. The company also previously furloughed 295 U.K. employees.

To help its laid-off employees find new roles, Monzo created a talent directory (see link 👇) . It’s not clear whether the directory is meant to cover the company’s previous layoffs, or if there’s been a new round in July. In a LinkedIn post, an employee on Monzo’s talent team alludes to “saying goodbye to some incredibly valued colleagues at Monzo right now.”

As consumers pull back on spending, Monzo generates less revenue from the interchange fees on its debit card products. The company recently raised £60 million at a 40% lower valuation to its prior round last year.

The Monzo layoff list features 24 ex-employees, many of whom are engineers and designers.

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 7/16/20

Roundup, , , , ,

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.

In case you missed it — we recently looked at usage data from the Layoffs.fyi List to see what types of laid-off employees were getting the most attention from recruiters. Among the findings: there are 4x as many searches for laid-off engineers as there are for the next most popular function (design). You can read the full analysis here.

🏢 OnDeck ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 20% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Small business lending company OnDeck laid off 20% of its staff, two sources told Layoffs.fyi. Finance blog deBanked attempted to email OnDeck’s head of corporate communications for comment, but received an auto-reply saying that he was no longer with the company.

🏢 Yelp ∙ 🌎SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 63 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Local reviews site Yelp plans to bring back “nearly all” of the 1,100 employees it furloughed in April, citing “cautious optimism” about the economic recovery. However, 63 employees will be laid off as a result of Yelp’s decision to keep its offices closed into next year.

🏢 Optimizely ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 60 employees (15%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of A/B testing software, Optimizely laid off 60 employees (15%). Laid-off employees will receive severance pay and six months of COBRA (through 2020), and will be allowed to keep their laptop.

🏢 Vox Media ∙ 🌎 Washington D.C. ∙ 👩 Unknown # employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Vox Media, the owner of New York Magazine, The Verge, SBNation and Eater, previously furloughed 100 employees in April. Vox is planning to permanently lay off many of those employees, and may cut additional jobs as well. The company plans to miss its 2020 forecast by 25%, due in part to the pandemic’s impact on its coverage areas of sports and real estate.

🏢 Skyscanner ∙ 🌎 Edinburgh ∙ 👩 300 employees (20%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A flight comparison website based in Scotland, 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.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 7/9/20

Roundup, , , , , ,

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 coronavirus pandemic.

🏢 Oyo USA ∙ 🌎 Dallas ∙ 👩 Hundreds of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A global lodging company headquartered in India, Oyo permanently laid off a “large majority” of the U.S. employees it furloughed in April. A laid-off employee tells Layoffs.fyi that 90% of the U.S. team was affected, likely numbering hundreds of people. In an internal memo, Oyo’s COO said that its U.S. business is “showing positive signs of recovery.” However, U.S. revenue is still 25% below January’s levels, with global revenue only at ~30% of pre-COVID levels.

🏢 Funding Circle ∙ 🌎San Francisco ∙ 👩 85 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A London-based lending platform for small businesses, Funding Circle will lay off 85 U.S. employees to help its U.S. business move towards profitability. The company’s San Francisco technology development team will be consolidated to the U.K., and its sales and marketing operations will be moved to Denver.

🏢 The Wing ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 56 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A co-working space for women, The Wing laid off an additional 56 employees after cutting half of its team in April. The company’s workspaces continue to be closed due to the pandemic, threatening its primary source of revenue. Laid-off employees will receive two months of severance pay along with extended healthcare benefits.

🏢 Hired ∙ 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩 Unknown # employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A hiring marketplace that matches tech companies with job candidates, Hired is the latest recruiting startup to conduct a layoff during the pandemic. The number of employees laid off is unknown, though one Layoffs.fyi source says that at least 5 engineers and possibly up to 50 employees total were affected.

🏢 Kongregate ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 12 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A video game publisher and web gaming portal, Kongregate laid off 12 employees as part of a strategy shift. The company will be focusing more on developing games internally rather than publishing Flash-based games made by others. Kongregate apologized that some employees found out about their layoff through a direct deposit notification.

🏢 Havenly ∙ 🌎 Denver ∙ 👩 5 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • An online interior design service, Havenly laid off 5 full-time workers and some temp workers in the spring. However, the company has begun hiring again in recent weeks, due to rising demand from people wanting to improve their living space during shelter-in-place.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 6/25/20

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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 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.

🏢 Intuit ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 715 employees (7%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • The maker of TurboTax and QuickBooks, Intuit said that staff cuts were needed to better align its team structure with its new strategy of becoming an “AI-driven expert platform.” In a blog post, the company’s CEO repeatedly referred to the layoff as “re-balancing our investments,” though rebalancing typically involves bringing a portfolio back to its original allocation rather than shifting to a new one (but I digress).

🏢 GoDaddy ∙ 🌎 Austin ∙ 👩 451 employees (6%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Web hosting and domain name provider GoDaddy is closing both of its Austin offices, which housed its GoDaddy Social business unit. 814 employees are impacted in total — of those, 40% were “offered alternate roles” in another location, 331 employees in sales were laid off, and 120 employees from fulfillment and customer success were let go.

🏢 Sonos ∙ 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 👩 174 employees (12%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Despite having successfully taken thousands of dollars from my bank account over the years, wireless speaker company Sonos had to lay off 12% of its staff. Sonos is also closing its retail store in New York City and 6 satellite offices.

🏢 ScaleFactor ∙ 🌎 Austin ∙ 👩 90 employees (90%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Just months after raising a $60 million Series C, automated bookkeeping company ScaleFactor is shutting down. The company said that the pandemic had wiped out half of its sales. Half of ScaleFactor’s 100 employees were laid off immediately, and all but 10 will be let go by the end of August.

🏢 Splunk ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 70 employees (1%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of data intelligence software, Splunk eliminated roles within its Product Management, Engineering, and PMO teams, according to an internal email reviewed by Layoffs.fyi.

🏢 Redox ∙ 🌎 Madison ∙ 👩 44 employees (25%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An API for healthcare data, Redox explained the circumstances surrounding the layoff on its company podcast.

🏢 Atlas Obscura ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 14 employees (25%)

  • A travel media company that specializes in obscure destinations, Atlas Obscura laid off around 14 employees, two sources told Layoffs.fyi.