Africa-focused cross-border payment startup, Chipper Cash, has laid off some of its employees barely a year after it raised $150 million.
The development was confirmed by Erin Fusaro, Chipper Cash’s Vice President of Engineering, in a LinkedIn post. The company has not officially confirmed the layoffs.
Chipper Cash, which is funded by troubled crypto exchange FTX, joins the growing list of startups that have slashed their workforce as the impacts of the economic downturn bite harder.
Although the downsizing at Chipper Cash may be linked to its relationship with FTX, tech companies around the world have generally been hit hard by the global economic headwind in recent times, leading to mass layoffs by some of the biggest tech giants in the world.
Helping hand: Though not affected by the layoffs, Fusaro expressed concerns for her colleagues affected by the downsizing. She also used the medium to solicit jobs on their behalf. She wrote:
“This morning a significant amount of Chipper staff were let go in a layoff. While I was not among them, many of my close colleagues and friends were. If you’re looking for talented engineering leadership, engineers, technical program managers, analysts, or IT staff, please comment here and I’ll do my best to start connecting people. To those let go today, please feel free and welcome to DM me, I’ll help you find a soft spot to land if I can.”
A valuable fintech: Chipper Cash is one of Africa’s unicorns, valued at $2.2 billion as of 2021. Last November, the fintech startup raised $150 million in a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX.
The investment came barely six months after Chipper Cash closed its first Series C round of $100 million, led by SVB Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of SVB Financial Group. Since its inception, Chipper Cash has raised over $305 million from investors including Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, and Bezos Expeditions
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