Tag: Logistics

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.

Samsara

Samsara lays off 300 employees, launches public alumni directory

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🌎 San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta ∙ 👩 300 employees (18%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

Samsara, which makes Internet-connected sensors that help industrial companies optimize their operations, laid off 300 employees yesterday (18%). The company also raised $400 million at a lower valuation ($5.4 bn) than the one from its September raise ($6.3 bn).

Samsara blamed the economic downturn for its layoff without specifying details, though its down round suggests that the company was operating without enough cash to last through the pandemic.

Samsara is also implementing other cost-cutting measures such as slashing executive salaries by 30% for the rest of the year, cutting non-essential spending, and freezing hiring for 6 months.

Following the example set by Airbnb and Uber, the company launched an official Samsara talent directory (see link below 👇 ). The Samsara layoff list features 100 ex-employees, mostly in the Bay Area.

View list of employees laid off ->

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

Layoffs Roundup: Mon 4/6/20

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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

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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.