Layoff Events

Utah-based fitness company iFIT has conducted another round of layoffs as it navigates financial challenges, including settling a significant lawsuit and seeking additional capital. The company, which produces connected fitness equipment and content, has placed its once-anticipated initial public offering on indefinite hold. These layoffs follow a previous round just weeks before Christmas, despite earlier claims of strong performance. The exact number of employees affected in this latest reduction was not specified, but the cuts reflect ongoing restructuring efforts within the competitive home fitness industry.

OkCredit, a Bengaluru-based fintech startup backed by investors like Tiger Global and Lightspeed, has laid off approximately 30-40 employees over the past month, primarily affecting backend, tech, and engineering teams. This reduction comes as the company shifts its focus toward strengthening fintech initiatives and growth channels, following the launch of its e-commerce enabler app, OkShop, in 2020. The layoffs are also attributed to significant financial challenges, with the company reporting expenses of INR 114.6 crore against a mere INR 3.79 lakh in sales revenue for FY21, where employee benefits constituted a substantial portion of costs. Operating in the competitive fintech industry, OkCredit provides digital bookkeeping solutions for small businesses and has raised $84.2 million to date.

Virgin Hyperloop laid off 111 employees representing approximately 50% of its workforce on 2022-02-21.

Indian edtech startup Lido Learning has laid off between 150 and 200 employees, representing a significant portion of its workforce, following severe financial difficulties. The Mumbai-based company, which had raised $10 million just five months prior in September 2021, informed staff in early February that it could not pay salaries for January and the first week of February, attributing the crisis to a failed funding deal. Employees were reportedly dismissed without notice. The startup, operating in the competitive K-12 after-school tutoring sector, is now seeking a new funding round or potential acquisition while struggling to meet its payroll commitments to both full-time staff and contract teachers.

Trustly laid off 120 employees on 2022-02-17.

In February 2022, Brazilian foodtech startup Liv Up laid off over 100 employees, representing 15% of its workforce. This restructuring followed investments that did not yield the expected returns, prompting a significant cost reduction. The company, which had reported having 800 employees in September 2021, stated the move was to create a leaner operation and focus resources on projects better aligned with the current challenging macroeconomic reality and shifting consumer habits. The layoffs were part of an effort to streamline the business and concentrate on building its position as a major healthy food brand in the country.

In February 2022, Utah-based real estate technology startup Homie conducted companywide layoffs, reducing its workforce by 28%, which impacted 119 employees across its operations in several western states. The cuts were a response to a roiled real estate market characterized by record low housing inventories and intense competition, making 2021 and early 2022 exceptionally challenging for buyers and sellers. CEO Johnny Hanna described the decision as extremely difficult, citing unprecedented market conditions that forced the company to make critical operational changes to navigate the downturn.

Daily Harvest laid off 60 employees representing approximately 20% of its workforce on 2022-02-10.

In February 2022, virtual events platform Hopin laid off 138 full-time employees, representing 12% of its staff, along with some contractors. The venture-backed unicorn, which had grown rapidly during the pandemic and completed several acquisitions including a $250 million purchase of StreamYard in 2021, cited a need for greater efficiency and sustainable growth. CEO Johnny Boufarhat explained the cuts aimed to address overlaps and duplications that emerged from its fast expansion, marking a shift from its previous aggressive scaling and a $400 million raise at a $5.65 billion valuation just months earlier. The company provided severance, benefits, and job-hunting support to affected employees.

Peloton laid off 2,800 employees representing approximately 20% of its workforce on 2022-02-08.

Proptech startup Rhino, which offers an alternative to security deposits for renters, laid off 57 employees on February 4, 2022, representing over 20% of its staff. This reduction leaves the company with 198 employees. The New York-based firm, founded in 2017, cited market volatility and a strategic push to reach profitability faster as key reasons for the cuts. The layoffs occurred just a year after Rhino raised $95 million in a pre-IPO round, highlighting the pressure on proptech startups to adapt to a challenging macroeconomic climate. While many affected were recent hires, the company continues to recruit for key technology roles.

Gopuff, the rapid-delivery startup, has laid off approximately 100 employees from its warehouse and operations teams as part of a restructuring effort. This reduction affects about 1% of its total workforce of 10,000. The company also paused several plans to open new U.S. warehouses. These cost-cutting measures, implemented in late January 2022, are aimed at streamlining operations ahead of a potential IPO later in the year. The layoffs primarily targeted district managers and related support teams, shifting Gopuff's model toward a more tech-driven approach similar to Amazon's, as the company reevaluates its expansion strategy in the competitive on-demand delivery industry.

On January 26, 2022, beauty brand Glossier laid off 80 corporate employees, representing about one-third of its corporate workforce, with the cuts primarily impacting its technology team. The company, which operates primarily as a direct-to-consumer e-commerce business in the beauty industry, cited a strategic shift to rely more on external technology partners rather than maintaining certain platforms internally. Founder Emily Weiss acknowledged in an internal email that the company had over-hired and become distracted by projects outside its core beauty focus. This move came despite Glossier's frequent emphasis on its tech-driven approach and followed a previous round of layoffs in 2020 when it closed all physical stores. The company, valued at $1.8 billion, continues to generate most of its revenue online.

Root Insurance laid off 330 employees on 2022-01-20.

Protonn, a tech startup co-founded by former Flipkart executives, has completely shut down its operations and laid off all its employees. The Bengaluru and San Francisco-based company, which had raised $9 million in seed funding in July 2021, was unable to achieve a sustainable product-market fit for its platform designed to help independent professionals launch and manage their businesses online. Despite the challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the founders could not agree on pivoting the business model, leading to the decision to cease operations and return the full capital to investors, including Matrix Partners and notable angels like Binny Bansal. The shutdown occurred around January 2022, just six months after securing funding.

Spin, the e-scooter-sharing startup owned by Ford, is laying off a quarter of its workforce as part of a major restructuring to pursue profitability. The company is exiting nearly all open permit markets globally, where multiple operators compete without fleet caps, citing an unsustainable "race to the bottom" on pricing and an inability to maintain service quality. This shift will involve winding down operations in several U.S. markets and entirely in Germany, Portugal, and Spain by around February 22nd. Moving forward, Spin will concentrate on limited vendor markets in the U.S., Canada, and the UK, where cities select partners through procurement processes—a model that reportedly doubles its revenue. The layoffs, while unspecified in exact numbers, reflect the company's strategic pivot away from highly competitive open markets.

Delivery Hero, a major player in the food delivery and quick-commerce industry, laid off 300 employees in Germany following the sudden shutdown of its Foodpanda brand's operations in the country on December 27, 2021. This reduction impacted approximately 30% of Foodpanda's local workforce, which totaled around 1,000 people, including riders and pickers. The layoffs primarily affected corporate staff in areas like sales, HR, and marketing, rather than delivery couriers, who may transition to roles with partners like Gorillas, in which Delivery Hero holds an investment. The decision, described as abrupt and surprising by employees and observers alike, was part of a strategic exit from the German market, with the company offering severance packages and assistance in finding new positions within its network.

iFit on 2021-12-08.

BitTitan, a Bellevue-based cloud and data services startup, is laying off 70 employees in January following its recent acquisition by Texas software company Idera. These cuts represent about 27% of its workforce, which stood at 257 employees at the time of the acquisition. The layoffs, disclosed through a state regulatory notice, are part of the post-acquisition restructuring. Founded in 2007, BitTitan operates in the competitive cloud services industry and had raised significant funding prior to the takeover by Idera, a larger software firm backed by private equity.

Zillow laid off 2,000 employees representing approximately 25% of its workforce on 2021-11-02.

Ozy Media representing approximately 100% of its workforce on 2021-10-01.

Zymergen laid off 120 employees on 2021-09-23.

In 2021, Imperfect Foods, a grocery-delivery e-commerce company that had expanded rapidly during the pandemic, underwent significant restructuring, including multiple rounds of layoffs affecting employees across nearly all ranks. The layoffs occurred in waves throughout the year, driven by a slowdown in sales as consumer demand waned post-pandemic, with many customers returning to in-store shopping. The company also saw a major leadership shakeup, with half of its C-suite departing, including CEO Philip Behn, who was pushed out in June. These changes were attributed to overestimated revenue projections following the pandemic boom and a challenging adjustment to shifting market conditions.

Genius on 2021-09-15.

In September 2021, mattress startup Casper conducted a round of layoffs impacting dozens of employees, including three C-level executives: the Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Operating Officer. The cuts largely affected retail and operations teams, signaling a broader restructuring effort aimed at reducing operating costs and focusing on North American operations to achieve profitability. This followed a previous workforce reduction of 21% over a year earlier when Casper shut down its European operations. The layoffs were communicated to employees on September 14, 2021, with those affected offered severance packages.

Treehouse laid off 41 employees representing approximately 90% of its workforce on 2021-09-14.

Cybersecurity firm Tanium, valued at $9 billion, laid off between 15 and 20 employees last week, primarily from its marketing department. This represents roughly 10% of its 200-person marketing unit and a small fraction of its total workforce of about 2,000. The cuts, which included nearly all senior product marketers and some partner sales staff, follow the recent resignation of Chief Marketing Officer Chris Pick—the fourth CMO to leave the company since 2016. This move is part of broader organizational shifts, including the earlier disbanding of its customer success team, as the company undergoes a readiness assessment under a new CFO in preparation for a potential IPO.

In August 2021, Flockjay, a Y Combinator-backed startup in the edtech and bootcamp industry, laid off at least half of its workforce, impacting 30 to 45 employees out of an estimated total of 60 to 90 full-time staff. The layoffs affected all nontechnical teams, including admissions, business operations, partnerships, recruiting, and marketing. This drastic reduction came as the company pivoted from its core 10-week sales training bootcamp model to focus on developing a B2B SaaS platform aimed at sales operations and efficiency. The shift was driven by a strategic move to pursue more predictable revenue streams and scalable support for alumni and sales organizations, leading to the difficult decision to run its bootcamp classes in a limited capacity while building the new platform.

Bytedance laid off 1,800 employees on 2021-08-05.

Bengaluru-based startup Pagarbook, a Sequoia Capital-backed company providing payroll and workforce management software for SMEs, laid off approximately 80 employees in late June due to a cash crunch and product failures. The layoffs, conducted via video call, affected designers, content writers, and on-ground staff across various locations. Despite raising $15 million in a Series A round and enlisting celebrity endorsements, the company faced challenges with a new product that had significant glitches and insufficient market traction. This move contrasts with the broader trend of hiring sprees and record funding in India's startup ecosystem this year.

Katerra, a SoftBank-backed construction startup once valued at $4 billion, is shutting down and laying off thousands of employees. The company, which had around 2,434 employees according to its LinkedIn page, struggled with project delays, cost overruns, and financial difficulties exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and rising labor costs. Despite previous layoffs and a $200 million bailout from SoftBank last year, Katerra failed to stabilize, leading to its closure in June 2021. The company, which aimed to revolutionize the global construction industry, also faced an SEC investigation into its accounting practices before its collapse.

In May 2021, German-British fintech SumUp laid off a three-digit number of employees as part of a restructuring effort, despite having recently secured a €750 million credit line from investors like Goldman Sachs. The company, which provides card terminals to small businesses and employed around 2,600 people across 15 locations, cited the need to build a resilient company during challenging times, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted its merchant clients. This move came as a surprise following earlier expansion announcements and ongoing hiring, with about 90 positions still advertised at the time. The layoffs, confirmed by co-founder Marc-Alexander Christ, affected staff in various global offices and were aligned with strategic goals to streamline operations while continuing product and market expansion.

Digital comics startup Madefire is shutting down in April 2021 after entering an assignment for the benefit of creditors, a state-level insolvency proceeding. The company, which launched in 2012 and raised funding, had developed "Motion Books" for platforms like iPad, enlisting notable artists. As a result, all publishing and sales have ceased, affecting partner apps like Archie Comics, and users are urged to download purchased content. The closure marks the end of its effort to reinvent comics for digital formats amid industry shifts.

Lambda School laid off 65 employees on 2021-04-29.

Based on the provided content, no layoff event is described. The text appears to be a standard website footer for a platform like YouTube, mentioning copyright, contact information, and policy links, and is attributed to Google LLC for the year 2026. There is no information about Patreon, its workforce, or any layoffs. Therefore, a summary of a layoff event cannot be created from this material.

New Relic, a publicly traded cloud monitoring software company, announced plans in April 2021 to lay off approximately 160 employees, representing 7% of its workforce. This restructuring was driven by a strategic shift to a new consumption-based pricing model, moving away from traditional subscriptions. The company stated this model aims to lower customer costs and encourage broader product adoption, leading to a more efficient go-to-market operation that requires less investment. As a result of the layoffs, New Relic expected to incur charges between $13 million and $16 million, with plans to reallocate some spending toward increased research and development to support its new business focus.

Medium, the online publishing platform, announced a strategic shift in its editorial approach on March 23, 2021, which included offering a voluntary buyout to its editorial staff. While the exact number of employees who accepted the buyout was not publicly disclosed, the company's editorial team had grown to approximately 80 people by the end of 2019. This restructuring reflects Medium's ongoing efforts to refine its business model and integrate professional editorial content with its open platform, moving away from replicating traditional publishing. The changes were communicated by CEO Ev Williams, citing the need to adapt their strategy after rapidly scaling their in-house publications like OneZero and Elemental. The company operates in the digital media and technology industry.

BuzzFeed laid off 47 U.S. employees at HuffPost, including eight managers, as part of a restructuring effort announced in March 2021, shortly after acquiring the news outlet from Verizon Media. The layoffs, which affected nearly 30% of the unionized editorial unit, were aimed at stemming HuffPost's $20 million losses in 2020 and fast-tracking its path to profitability. This move occurred amid a grim year for the media industry, exacerbated by the pandemic and shifts in digital advertising. Additionally, HuffPost Canada was shuttered, and top editors departed, as BuzzFeed sought to refocus HuffPost on politics, breaking news, and revenue-generating content while maintaining its digital presence.

In March 2021, data management startup Clumio conducted a round of layoffs, reportedly affecting two-thirds of its sales team, as part of a strategic shift to focus exclusively on public cloud backup. The company, operating in the competitive SaaS data protection industry, is rebalancing its business to simplify data protection in the public cloud, moving away from its previous coverage of both private and public cloud applications. CEO Poojan Kumar stated the decision was necessary to tighten areas no longer aligned with the company's strategic focus, ensuring long-term customer service in a market contested by several strong suppliers.

Chinese drone giant DJI has laid off an unspecified number of employees at its Palo Alto, California research and development office, citing evolving company needs as the reason. The layoffs, which occurred last week, affect a portion of its global workforce of over 14,000. This move is part of a broader restructuring of DJI's U.S. operations, which has also seen high-profile executive departures. The changes may stem from corporate maturation, pandemic effects, or ongoing pressure from the U.S. government, which has encouraged agencies to avoid Chinese-made technology. Despite this turbulence, DJI maintains its dominant worldwide market share in the drone industry.

Ninjacart, a Walmart-backed agritech startup, has laid off over 200 employees across key cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. The layoffs, which began in November 2020, affected staff across ground operations, middle, and senior management. While the company attributes the terminations to performance and integrity issues, including theft and failure to meet KPIs, former employees allege the move is part of a cost-saving drive, citing unethical HR practices such as shortened notice periods. CEO Thirukumaran Nagarajan denies cost-cutting measures, stating the actions align with contractual terms for addressing performance and integrity concerns.

Indian mobility startup Bounce has conducted its second major round of layoffs, reducing its workforce to approximately 200 employees. This follows a previous reduction of 130 employees in June 2020. The latest cuts, occurring in February 2021, affected an estimated 200-odd employees across all levels, representing a significant reduction of 40-60% from its pre-layoff headcount. The company, which operates an on-demand two-wheeler rental service, cited persistently subdued demand in the shared mobility sector due to the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as the primary reason. Bounce stated it is refocusing its strategy to concentrate on its electric vehicle (EV) two-wheeler business and will utilize its remaining capital of around $70 million to grow this segment. Affected employees were offered three months of severance pay.

Online clothing reseller ThredUp is laying off 243 employees as it closes its distribution center in Vernon Hills, Illinois, effective March 19, 2021. The company, which operates in the e-commerce and secondhand fashion industry, is consolidating operations into more scalable and cost-efficient facilities in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona. While the exact total employee count isn't specified, the layoffs are part of a strategic shift following pandemic-related sales fluctuations and ahead of a planned initial public offering. ThredUp is offering affected workers relocation support, severance, and job placement assistance.

Indigo laid off 80 employees on 2021-02-09.

Berlin-based restaurant reservation platform Quandoo has laid off 87 employees, representing 20% of its global workforce, which previously stood at around 430 people. The job cuts, announced in early February 2021, were a direct result of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry worldwide. As lockdowns and restrictions forced widespread restaurant closures, demand for Quandoo's services plummeted. The company, a startup success story acquired by Japan's Recruit Holdings, had previously implemented short-time work schemes in Germany and other countries before resorting to layoffs to ensure the company's long-term viability.

Toronto-based retail software startup Hubba is shutting down operations after over a decade, resulting in layoffs for an unconfirmed number of its approximately 45 employees. The company, which had raised over $60 million from notable investors like Goldman Sachs, communicated the wind-down decision to investors on Monday. Hubba, once considered one of Toronto's hottest startups with ambitions to reach a $1 billion valuation and an IPO, had faced significant challenges since 2018, including multiple rounds of layoffs and a strategic pivot from enterprise clients to focusing solely on independent retailers. The shutdown marks the end of a venture that aimed to connect independent brands with buyers but ultimately could not sustain its operations.

Privitar laid off 20 employees on 2021-01-27.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is winding down its operations in India and laying off over 1,800 employees, which represents close to 90% of its workforce in the country. This drastic reduction, announced in late January 2021, leaves the company with fewer than 250 staff in India. The decision is a direct consequence of the Indian government's permanent ban on TikTok and 58 other China-linked apps, which left ByteDance without a clear path to reinstating its services. Following an initial ban in June 2020, the company had supported its 2,000+ employees for over half a year but ultimately had to scale back due to the regulatory uncertainty. The layoffs impact teams across TikTok, Helo, and Resso, marking a significant retreat for the Chinese tech giant from the Indian market.

In late January 2021, Shutterfly announced a significant staff reduction affecting nearly 800 employees. The layoffs primarily impacted the Lifetouch National School Studios division, with 700 positions cut in the U.S. and 30 in Canada, while the core Shutterfly business eliminated 90 roles. The company cited declining sales and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as key reasons, noting that the health crisis particularly affected the Lifetouch studio and school photography business. This restructuring, which also consolidated operational territories, followed Shutterfly's acquisition of Lifetouch in 2018 and its subsequent transition to private ownership under Apollo Global Management.

Postmates laid off 180 employees representing approximately 15% of its workforce on 2021-01-23.