Tag: Transportation

Scoop

Scoop conducts second layoff of 2020

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🌎 San Francisco ∙ 👩 Unknown # employees ∙ 🖥 All departments

Scoop, which facilitates carpooling for commuters, laid off over 40 employees. The layoff comes seven months after the startup cut 92 employees in April, saying at the time that it was operating at a “fraction” of its normal volume due to offices closing across the country.

See link below for a crowdsourced layoff list containing employees laid off in both the April and November rounds.

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 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 9/10/20

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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.

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.

The Appraisal Lane

The Appraisal Lane lays off engineering team in Uruguay, releases talent directory

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🌎 Montevideo ∙ 👩 At least 30 employees ∙ 🖥 Engineering

The Appraisal Lane, an Austin-based startup that develops an app where vehicle owners can get an appraisal with an offer to buy, has laid off its engineering team in Uruguay, according to LinkedIn posts from multiple company representatives.

Following the layoff, The Appraisal Lane released a talent directory featuring 30 of its ex-engineers (see link 👇).

The Appraisal Lane was founded in 2013 and raised $1.8 million in its sole round of funding.

View list of employees laid off ->

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

Gojek

Gojek creates talent directory following 430-person layoff

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🌎 Jakarta ∙ 👩 430 employees (9%) ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

Gojek, Indonesia’s largest startup, laid off 430 employees (9%) in late June. The ride-hailing company joined its global peers Grab, Uber, Lyft, Ola, and Kapten in cutting staff as a result of pandemic-induced lockdowns.

In the wake of the layoff, Gojek created a talent directory to showcase its affected employees (see link 👇). The Gojek layoff list features 177 former employees, primarily in Indonesia.

Gojek’s layoffs were concentrated in its GoLife (household services) and GoFood Festivals (physical dining) business units. The company plans to shut them down in order to focus on its core businesses of transportation and food delivery.

View list of employees laid off ->

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

Kapten

French ride-hailing startup Kapten releases layoff list

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🌎 Paris ∙ 👩 At least 68 employees ∙ 🖥 Engineering and Product

A Paris-based ride-hailing company owned by Free Now Group, Kapten set up a Talent Directory to promote its departed alumni (see link 👇). In a LinkedIn post promoting the directory, Free Now’s CTO said that the company decided to “stop additional investments into [its] Paris Tech hub.”

Back in May, multiple sources told Layoffs.fyi that Kapten was conducting a layoff, with estimates ranging from 130 to 180 employees affected. Due to local labor law regulations, the process was expected to take several months to complete.

The Kapten layoff list features 68 ex-employees, primarily in Engineering and Product.

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 7/2/20

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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.

🏢 Katerra ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 400 employees (7%) ∙ 🔗Source

  • A tech-driven construction company, Katerra cut 400 employees following a CEO change. The SoftBank-backed company previously laid off 240 employees in April. Katerra said then that stay-at-home orders forced the company to shut down some of its operations. TheRealDeal previously reported cases of cost overruns, delays, and cancellations in Katerra’s construction projects.

🏢 Argo AI ∙ 🌎 Munich ∙ 👩 100 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A self-driving car company, Argo AI laid off 100 of the 300 employees in its Munich-based Autonomous Intelligent Driving unit. Argo acquired the AID unit from Volkswagen as part of a $2.6 billion investment in Argo last year.

🏢 Bossa Nova ∙ 🌎 Pittsburgh, SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 61 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A maker of robots used in retail stores, Bossa Nova Robotics is terminating or furloughing 61 people. The layoffs affect its Bay Area and Pittsburgh-area staff, and are concentrated in the company’s software and operations teams. No robots were laid off.

🏢 Integrate.ai ∙ 🌎 Toronto ∙ 👩 26 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A startup that uses AI to improve customer interactions, Integrate.ai laid off 26 employees as part of a strategy change. The company said it would be focusing fully on its Trusted Signals Exchange offering going forward.

🏢 New Relic ∙ 🌎 Portland ∙ 👩 20 employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A software performance monitoring tool, New Relic is combining its site engineering team with its core technology platform team. As a result, “less than 20 people” were laid off at its engineering headquarters in Portland.

🏢 Byton ∙ 🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 Unknown # employees ∙ 🔗Source

  • A Chinese electric vehicle startup, Byton said last week that it was implementing a layoff in its U.S. office. Later, it emerged that due to financial difficulties exacerbated by the pandemic, Byton will be halting operations entirely for at least six months. The company has yet to ship its first vehicle, a small crossover SUV.

🏢 G2 ∙ 🌎 Chicago ∙ 👩 Unknown # employees

  • A reviews website for business software, G2 conducted a “significant” workforce reduction, Layoffs.fyi has learned. Multiple employees, particularly in marketing, posted on LinkedIn about being laid off.
Grab

Official Grab layoff list released following 360-person layoff

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🌎 Singapore, Indonesia ∙ 👩 360 employees (5%) ∙ 🖥 Multiple departments

Grab, the largest ride-hailing startup in Southeast Asia, laid off 360 employees last week. 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 be sunsetting non-core projects and redeploying staff to focus on its delivery business.

Grab is offering laid-off employees a host of transition benefits, including severance pay of 1.5 months plus half a month for every 6 months of service, health insurance coverage through the end of 2020, waiver of the annual cliff on equity vesting, and outplacement support from the company’s Talent Acquisition team.

The company also created a Grab Talent Directory that launched today (see link 👇). The Grab layoff list features nearly 100 ex-employees, mostly in Singapore and Indonesia.

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 6/18/20

Roundup, , ,

Below is a recap of the layoffs from this past week. Check out the Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a complete list of all 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.