Tag: Finance

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.
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.

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.
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

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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.
PayJoy

EXCLUSIVE: Fintech startup PayJoy laid off 23 employees

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🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩 23 employees (25%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

PayJoy, a lending startup that enables customers without a bank account or credit history to buy smartphones on installment payments, laid off 23 employees (25%) on April 28. A company executive tells Layoffs.fyi that the employees’ last day will be on June 30.

PayJoy told employees that despite a very strong Q1, the company expects a large and uncertain impact on its revenue and fundraising prospects for the next year due to COVID-19. The layoff was intended to extend its cash buffer to weather the economic fallout from the pandemic. PayJoy has raised $71 million in equity and debt financing from Greylock, Union Square Ventures, and others.

The company shared with Layoffs.fyi a spreadsheet of 21 affected employees, including 12 in Engineering, that are open to being contacted about career opportunities (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 5/21/20

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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.
Cadre

Real estate investing startup Cadre laid off 28 employees

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🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 28 employees (25%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

Cadre, an online marketplace for commercial real estate investments, laid off 28 employees (25%) last week. The company, which makes money in part from up-front transaction fees, has been hurt by the sudden slowdown in the real estate market. Cadre 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.

See link below 👇for an opt-in list of employees laid off across Cadre’s sales, product, engineering, people, and finance departments.

View list of employees laid off ->

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

Petal

Credit card startup Petal conducts layoff

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🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 At least 10 employees ∙ 🖥 All departments

Petal, which offers credit cards to people who may not have a credit score yet, conducted a layoff last week. It’s unclear how many employees were affected, but a Google spreadsheet of team members looking for new roles lists at least 10 people (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.