Tag: Recruiting

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.

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.
Andela

Andela layoff list emerges after it laid off 135 employees

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🌎 Nairobi, Lagos, Kigali, Kampala, New York City ∙ 👩 135 employees ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

An Africa-focused startup that provides “engineering as a service” to other companies, Andela laid off 135 employees in May. The company cited a decline in customers due to the economic downturn. Andela is also shifting its strategy from acting as a talent accelerator to serving as a talent outsourcing firm.

The Andela layoff list features 59 former engineers and 30 non-engineers (see link below 👇). Most are based in Africa, though a few are located in New York City.

View list of engineers laid off ->

View list of non-engineers 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: Thurs 5/7/20

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This week saw huge layoffs from Uber, Airbnb, and Juul. These 3 layoffs rank among the top 10 biggest in tech since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic.

Below are a few of the startup layoffs from this past week. 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!

🏢 Uber ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩3,700 employees (14%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Ridesharing service Uber laid off 3,700 employees from its customer support and recruiting teams. The CEO’s letter to staff strongly hints that more cuts are coming in the next two weeks, including in engineering and product. As many as 5,400 employees are expected to ultimately be laid off.

🏢 Juul ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩900 employees (30%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of e-cigarettes, Juul has been mired in controversy over its role in the rise of underage vaping. Its layoff is unrelated to the coronavirus. Juul is also planning to move its headquarters from San Francisco to Washington D.C., partially because its products are now banned in SF.

🏢 CureFit ∙ 🌎 Bengaluru ∙ 👩 800 employees (16%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An India-based fitness startup, CureFit also permanently closed a number of its gyms. The coronavirus lockdown has crushed fitness companies, including U.S.-based ClassPass (53% of team laid off or furloughed) and Brazil-based Gympass (467 employees laid off).

🏢 Careem ∙ 🌎 Dubai ∙ 👩 536 employees (31%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A ridesharing service acquired by Uber last year, Careem was one of the Middle East’s biggest startups. However, its business has dropped 80% post-coronavirus. Laid-off employees will receive at least 3 months of severance, 1 month of equity vesting, and extended visa and health insurance through 2020.

🏢 Namely ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 160 employees (40%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of HR and payroll software, Namely noted that its SMB customers have been downsizing as a result of the pandemic. This has led to lower revenue for Namely, which makes money in part via a per-employee monthly fee.

🏢 Kayak / OpenTable ∙ 🌎 Stamford ∙ 👩 160 employees (8%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • Kayak and OpenTable, both subsidiaries of Booking Holdings Inc., laid off 160 employees and furloughed another 240 employees. The company’s revenue has “dropped tremendously from the COVID-19 crisis.”

🏢 Oyo ∙ 🌎 London ∙ 👩 150 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • The self-proclaimed “world’s fastest growing hotel chain,” India-based Oyo plans to lay off 150-200 of its 300 employees in the UK. Oyo has already let go or furloughed thousands of employees globally in recent months. Its occupancy rate and revenue have dropped by over 50-60% since earlier this year.

🏢 Andela ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 135 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • An Africa-focused startup that provides “engineering as a service,” Andela expects a decline in customers due to the economic downturn. The company is also shifting its strategy from acting as a talent accelerator to serving as a talent outsourcing firm. No engineers were part of the layoff.

🏢 Care.com ∙ 🌎Boston ∙ 👩 81 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • An online marketplace of caregivers, Care.com said its layoff was not related to the coronavirus. Rather, the cuts are the result of Care.com’s acquisition by IAC in February.

🏢 Stack Overflow ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 40 employees (15%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A popular Q&A site for engineers, Stack Overflow has been hardest hit in its Talent business, which helps companies recruit and hire developers. Most of the affected employees were furloughed, though some were permanently laid off.

🏢 TheSkimm ∙ 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 26 employees (20%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A media startup targeted towards millennial women, TheSkimm is offering laid-off employees at least one month of severance and health insurance through July. Digital media companies have suffered declining revenue as brands pull back on advertising during the economic slowdown.
Bullhorn

Bullhorn laid off 100 employees

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🌎 Boston ∙ 👩 100 employees ∙ 🖥 All departments

A maker of CRM software, Bullhorn laid off 100 employees last Thursday, according to a LinkedIn post from its CEO. Bullhorn primarily serves staffing and recruiting companies, which have seen dramatic revenue declines as hiring slows down.

Bullhorn’s CEO took the extra step of sharing an opt-in list of employees laid off to help them find new opportunities. See below link 👇for the list.

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 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.
Greenhouse

Greenhouse lays off 120 employees

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🌎 New York City ∙ 👩 120 employees (28%)∙ 🖥 All departments

Greenhouse, which makes applicant tracking software for recruiting, laid off 120 employees (28%) on Friday. It’s the latest recruiting startup to conduct layoffs, following competitor Lever’s layoff of 86 employees (40%) a week before. Greenhouse is offering affected employees 8 weeks of severance and 8 months of healthcare.

UPDATE: The link to Greenhouse’s layoff spreadsheet has been removed upon their request.

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

Lever

Lever laid off 86 employees

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🌎 San Francisco, Toronto ∙ 👩 109 employees (40%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

UPDATE: A Lever employee says that 86 people were laid off, not 109 as Business Insider had estimated.

Lever, which makes applicant tracking software for recruiting, laid off 40% of its employees last week. The layoffs affected 109 86 people in their San Francisco and Toronto offices (see below link for an opt-in list👇). Recruiting has been one of the tech sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, as companies have been slowing down hiring (and as we know, also laying people off). Recruiting startups ZipRecruiter, AngelList, and Triplebyte have also conducted layoffs recently.

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 4/9/20

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Unicorn startups and notable consumer brands headlined the layoff news over the past couple of days. In the 4 weeks since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, nearly 200 startups in total have conducted layoffs, affecting over 17,000 employees.

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!

  • Toast, which makes software for restaurants, cut 50% of its staff, or around 1,300 employees. Its success is “tightly coupled” with the restaurant industry, which has seen sales decline by 80% in most cities. Toast raised money at a $5 billion valuation in February.
    • 🌎 Boston ∙ 👩‍💼 1,300 employees (50%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Eventbrite, the ticketing and events website, laid off 45% of its employees. The company is highly dependent on live events, which have halted as a result of shelter-in-place. Its share price had fallen over 70% since mid-March.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 500 employees (45%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • ezCater, a corporate catering startup, laid off over 400 employees (44%). “We’re a company that feeds meetings, and meetings are not happening much right now,” the company said.
    • 🌎 Boston ∙ 👩‍💼 400 employees (44%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Redfin, a real estate brokerage, laid off 7% of staff and either cut or furloughed 41% of its field agents. The company said that most agents would earn more from unemployment insurance than from Redfin. New listings, home tours, and home sales have all cooled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
    • 🌎 Seattle ∙ 👩‍💼 236 employees (7%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Groupon, a marketplace for discounts from local businesses, conducted a round of layoffs and furloughs. The Chicago Tribune says that “significant portions” of its sales and sales operations teams were affected, while employee posts on LinkedIn suggests that the cuts spanned more broadly. Between 200-350 employees were laid off, according to these posts.
    • 🌎 Chicago ∙ 👩‍💼 200-350 employees ∙ 🔗Source
  • Newfront Insurance, a commercial insurance brokerage, laid off 94 employees. The startup has eschewed publicity but had grown headcount rapidly since founding in 2017.
    • 🌎 San Francisco∙ 👩‍💼 94 employees ∙ 🔗Source
  • Away, a direct-to-consumer maker of luggage and travel accessories, furloughed about half of its team and laid off an additional 10% (60 employees). Sales of its products have fallen by more than 90% over the past few weeks, since people are not traveling.
    • 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩‍💼 60 employees (10%) ∙ 🔗Source
  • Lever, which makes applicant tracking software, laid off 40% of its staff, according to a laid-off employee. The economic impact of COVID-19 has slowed down hiring (and as we know, increased the pace of layoffs). ZipRecruiter, another recruiting site, also held recent layoffs.
    • 🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩‍💼 40% of employees
  • Zola, a website for creating wedding registries, laid off 20% of its team. Due to social distancing measures, couples have been delaying their weddings en masse.
    • 🌎 New York City ∙ 👩‍💼 20% of employees ∙ 🔗Source