Tag: Transportation

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 6/4/20

Roundup, , , , ,

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.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 5/28/20

Roundup, , , ,

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.

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 5/21/20

Roundup, , , , ,

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.
Uber

Official Uber layoff list goes live; over 500 ex-employees listed

Layoff list, , , , , ,

🌎 Multiple locations ∙ 👩 3,000 employees (13%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

On Monday, Uber laid off 3,000 additional employees on top of the 3,700 employees cut two weeks ago. In a memo to the team, Uber’s CEO alluded to the creation of a public alumni talent directory as part of the company’s efforts to support departing employees.

That Uber alumni directory is now live. Similar to the official Airbnb layoff list, Uber’s version allows recruiters and hiring managers to filter laid-off employees by location and role. Additional details include whether the person is open to relocation and/or remote work, and any experience managing people.

See below link 👇for the official Uber layoff list, as well as an unofficial Uber layoffs list that we posted previously.

View official list of employees laid off ->

View unofficial list of employees laid off ->

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

Ridecell

SF-based Ridecell laid off 35 employees, half of whom are engineers

Layoff list, ,

🌎 San Francisco Bay Area ∙ 👩 35 employees (15%) ∙ 🖥 Engineering

Ridecell, an operations platform for ride-sharing companies, laid off 35 employees (15%) last Thursday, according to a laid-off employee. Its customers are presumably struggling right now due to the nationwide lockdowns.

Ridecell joins the many transportation startups that have conducted layoffs during the coronavirus pandemic. Just yesterday, Uber increased the count of its May layoffs to 6,700 employees. Lyft laid off nearly 1,000 employees in late April. Kid-friendly ride sharing companies Zum and HopSkipDrive have also done layoffs.

See link below 👇for an opt-in list of Ridecell employees laid off, which includes 16 engineers 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.

Uber

Uber lays off 3,000 more employees, on top of the 3,700 laid off earlier this month

Layoff list, Layoff news, ,

🌎 SF Bay Area ∙ 👩 3,000 employees (13%) ∙ 🖥 All departments

As Layoffs.fyi forecasted last week, Uber laid off 3,000 more employees this morning. This comes on top of the 3,700 employees Uber cut two weeks ago, and brings the total to 6,700 laid off (25% of staff).

In conjunction with the layoff, Uber is also closing down 45 offices, winding down its product incubator and AI labs, pursuing strategic alternatives for Uber Works, and re-evaluating its self-driving units.

Nationwide shelter-in-place orders have hammered Uber’s ridesharing business. Its core business has fallen around 80% during the pandemic. Meanwhile, growth from Uber’s food delivery business has not been enough to offset the decline.

Uber previously told staff that laid-off employees would receive 10 weeks of severance pay and healthcare coverage through the end of 2020.

In addition to the 6,700 employees let go by Uber this month, the company has also cut 536 employees from Middle East subsidiary Careem, as well as all 400-500 employees from e-scooter subsidiary Jump.

See link below 👇for an existing unofficial list of 400+ employees laid off from Uber, mostly from the May 5 layoff. Expect this list to grow a lot bigger in the coming days.

UPDATE: An official Uber layoff list has been created. Added link below.

View official list of employees laid off ->

View unofficial 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

Roundup, , , , , ,

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.
Uber

Uber laid off 3,700 employees, with more expected

Layoff list, , , , ,

🌎 SF Bay Area, NYC, Chicago, Phoenix ∙ 👩 3,700 employees (14%) ∙ 🖥 Customer support, recruiting

Uber, the ridesharing service, laid off 3,700 employees (14%) last Wednesday. The layoff was concentrated in the company’s customer support and recruiting teams. Uber CEO’s letter to staff strongly hinted that more cuts are coming in the next week, including in engineering and product.

The Information reported that as many as 5,400 employees are expected to ultimately be laid off. However, one source tells Layoffs.fyi the total count could be as high as 6,700. In addition, 400-500 employees are reportedly being cut from Uber’s subsidiary Jump, which is being offloaded to Lime as part of Uber’s investment in the electric scooter company.

See link below 👇for a crowdsourced list of 250+ employees laid off from Uber.

View unofficial list of employees laid off ->

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

Layoffs Roundup: Thurs 5/7/20

Roundup, , , , , , , ,

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.

Uber and Airbnb’s layoffs rank as two of the biggest in tech since COVID-19

Analysis, , , , , , , , , , ,

This morning, Uber announced it was laying off 3,700 employees (14%) in its customer support and recruiting teams. The CEO’s letter to staff strongly hints that more cuts are coming in the next two weeks. As many as 5,400 employees are expected to ultimately be laid off.

Yesterday, Airbnb laid off 1,900 employees (25%) across all teams. It expects revenue to fall by more than half in 2020 as global travel stays frozen.

This means that in the past two days alone, we’ve seen two of three biggest tech layoffs since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic on March 11:

Company# Laid Off%IndustryDate
Uber3,70014%Transportation5/6
Groupon2,80044%Retail4/13
Airbnb1,90025%Travel5/5
Toast1,30050%Food4/7
Yelp1,00017%Consumer4/9
Magic Leap1,00050%Consumer4/22
Lyft98217%Transportation4/29
TripAdvisor90025%Travel4/28

Not surprisingly, nearly all of these mass layoffs — including Uber’s and Airbnb’s — can be attributed to shelter-in-place orders. Our previous analysis showed that 2/3 of startup employees laid off have come from industries directly affected by shelter-in-place, such as transportation, travel, real estate, food, and fitness. The layoffs have hurt sales and customer success roles most.

Unfortunately, more big layoffs are still to come. Juul is reportedly planning to lay off 800 to 950 employees, roughly one-third of staff. WeWork, which has already cut thousands of employees across multiple rounds of layoffs, expects to continue making cuts through the end of May. Square has managed to avoid a layoff so far, but remains exposed to small business customers in food and retail that have been shutting down en masse.

Our live Layoffs Tracker is tracking all startup layoffs, and has now tallied over 42,000 employees laid off across 374 companies. Best wishes to those affected and here’s hoping that we reach the bottom soon.