Tag: Real Estate

Layoffs Roundup: Fri 11/6/20

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Below is a recap of the latest tech layoff news. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all tech layoffs during the pandemic.

🏢 Bossa Nova ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 50% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Bossa Nova Robotics, a maker of shelf-scanning robots used in retail stores, laid off 50% of its (human) staff. The decision comes after Walmart ended its contract with Bossa Nova, finding that humans were equally capable of doing the robots’ job. Walmart had been using 500 of Bossa Nova’s robots, so those robots will presumably need to look for new work as well.

🏢 Remedy ∙ 🌎 Austin∙ 👩 82 employees ∙🔗Source

  • Remedy, a telehealth startup that provides mobile urgent care, laid off 82 employees. The company said that many of the affected employees were recent hires that were added to meet demand during the peak of the pandemic.

🏢 Knotel ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 20 employees (8%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Knotel, which leases office space to companies, cut 20 employees in its second layoff of the year. The company previously laid off or furloughed 195 employees in March, as demand for office space plummets during the pandemic.

In case you missed it, check out our standalone posts about layoffs from these companies:

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 10/1/20

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Below is a recap of tech layoffs from the past two weeks. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all tech layoffs during the pandemic.

🏢 HumanForest ∙ 🌎 London ∙ 🔗Source

  • HumanForest, a U.K.-based free bike-sharing service, laid off staff after a mechanical defect caused an accident for one of its customers. The layoff comes shortly after the startup raised $2.3 million in seed funding. TechCrunch reports that employees were let go with short notice and minimal severance. HumanForest hopes to launch a new e-bike in spring 2021, and has suspended its London operations in the meantime.

🏢 WeWork ∙ 🌎 Shenzhen ∙ 🔗Source

  • WeWork sold majority control of its Chinese unit to a private equity firm in exchange for a $200 million investment. Now a Chinese-owned company, WeWork China experienced layoffs as a result of the sale.

🏢 The Wrap ∙ 🌎 Los Angeles ∙ 🔗Source

  • LA-based digital media startup The Wrap laid off and furloughed staff earlier in the pandemic, as video and photo shoots were canceled and major events went digital. 80% of The Wrap’s revenue comes from advertising, despite its push to diversify with events revenue over the past few years. The Wrap recently hired a new chief revenue officer, and appears to be doubling down on advertising revenue now that COVID-19 has made live events impractical.

🏢 Air ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 16% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • When Air launched its fundraising process in April during the peak of pandemic uncertainty, the visual collaboration startup only had 4 months of cash left. Refusing to take out a PPP loan because “it felt wrong,” the New York-based company laid off 16% of its employees and moved out of its office to minimize spending. The story has a good ending — Air recently announced the successful completion of its $12 million Series A.

Thanks to Layoffs.fyi intern Stephan Billingslea for contributing to this post.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 9/17/20

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Well, that was fast. Just six months after everyone was warning about a startup reckoning, tech is booming again — coronavirus be damned 🤷🏻‍♂️. 

The latest evidence? Using data from PitchBook and Layoffs.fyi, the Financial Times identified more than 20 startups that recently raised funding at higher valuations despite laying off employees (including Carta, Sonder, and Stack Overflow). 

It’s not just private markets that have recovered. Shares of data startup Snowflake gained 112% on its first day of public trading yesterday, boding well for the half dozen startups about to IPO in the coming weeks. Maybe it’s time for me to finally join all the millennials trading options on Robinhood? 😉 

Despite the froth, layoffs are unfortunately still happening. I won’t be turning Layoffs.fyi into IPO.fyi anytime soon (plus, someone already registered it 2 weeks ago 😠).

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.

🏢 NS8 ∙ 🌎 Las Vegas ∙ 👩 240 employees (95%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • NS8, a fraud prevention startup, laid off nearly its entire staff. Ironically, the layoff came just days after NS8 informed employees that it was itself under investigation for fraud. The startup’s CEO abruptly resigned amid the SEC investigation, and has claimed that he “did not walk away with the companies [sic] money.” NS8 raised a $123 million round of funding just months ago.

🏢 Bleacher Report ∙ 🌎 London ∙ 👩 20 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • Digital sports media company Bleacher Report will lay off 20 employees later this month, representing nearly its entire London office. The UK staff had been focused on Bleacher Report’s football brand (what we Americans call “soccer”), and there’s speculation that this layoff is part of a series of decisions to pull back from its investment in the sport. Bleacher Report is currently owned by AT&T.

🏢 HubHaus ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 100% of employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • HubHaus, a co-living startup that manages shared homes, is shutting down and laying off all its employees. The startup says that it failed to attract enough tenants, perhaps because the pandemic has exacerbated rental markets in cities like San Francisco. 

🏢 Welkin Health ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 10 employees (33%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • The New York Post learned that patient healthcare software startup Welkin Health laid off a third of its workers in late April. Three days later, the company received a PPP loan worth over $1 million. Welkin claims that a declining sales pipeline caused the layoff. Since PPP loans are only forgivable if a company maintains its headcount, it’s likely that Welkin will need to pay back the loan.

Thanks to Layoffs.fyi intern Stephan Billingslea for contributing to this post.

Spotahome

Spotahome launches alumni talent directory

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🌎 Madrid, London ∙ 👩 At least 31 employees ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

Spotahome, a European startup that helps people list mid to long-term housing rentals, launched a talent directory of its alumni employees (see link 👇). A layoff at the company has yet to be reported publicly.

The Spotahome talent directory features 31 ex-employees in Madrid and London. The company last raised a $40 million round of funding in 2018.

View talent directory ->

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

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 7/9/20

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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.

🏢 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.
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.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 5/14/20

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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: Wed 4/29/20

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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.
Opendoor

Opendoor lays off 600 people amid declining real estate activity

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🌎 San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta ∙ 👩 600 employees (35%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

Opendoor, which facilitates the buying and selling of residential homes, laid off 35% of its staff yesterday. That amounts to 600 employees, making Opendoor’s layoff the 2nd largest among pre-IPO startups since the coronavirus pandemic (Toast cut 1,300 last week). See below link 👇for an opt-in spreadsheet of employees laid off, spanning multiple functions. Opendoor says laid-off employees will receive 8 weeks of pay and 16 weeks of reimbursement for health insurance.

View list of employees laid off ->

See our live Layoffs Tracker for a real-time report of all startups that have done layoffs.

Compass

Compass laid off 375 employees, showings have dropped by 60%

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🌎 NYC, SF, LA, Seattle ∙ 👩 375 employees (15%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

We previously mentioned that Compass, the real estate brokerage, laid off 375 staffers in late March. We now have access to a partial list of employees laid off (see below link👇). Compass has seen showings drop by 60% as people stay home during the pandemic. Many other real estate startups, including Redfin and Blueground, have also laid off workers in the past month.

View list of employees laid off ->

See our live Layoffs Tracker for a real-time report of all startups that have done layoffs.