Open banking vendor TrueLayer reportedly laid of a quarter of staff in September in an attempt to push the loss-making firm to profitability.
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The London-based firm axed 71 roles at the end of September a week before announcing a $50m funding round that lowered its valuation, according to a report by City AM, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Sources told the paper that employees were summoned to a meeting with roughly two hours warning, where they were informed of the job cuts. Affected staff left the company on the same day, they added.
One insider said internal communications put the proportion of employees impacted at around 25 per cent.
A spokesperson for TrueLayer declined to comment on the details. They said its latest funding round marked “yet another vote of confidence in our company”.
“At the same time, we also announced important steps to chart our path toward profitability, including streamlining operational costs and a reduction in headcount which took place in September,” they continued.
TrueLayer’s valuation fell by roughly 30 per cent in the fundraise, stripping the firm of its more than $1bn ‘unicorn’ price tag acquired in a 2021 round.
The last big round of cuts at the vendor happened in September 2022, when it axed 45 staff from its then payroll of 400 employees.
The company reported a pre-tax £55.6 million loss for 2023, compared to the £40.3 million loss reported in 2022. Despite losses piling up, the UK-based fintech reported that 2023 was the company’s “strongest year-on-year growth to date”. TrueLayer saw its gross profit skyrocket from £2.96 million to £7.78 million, and revenue increased from £4.1 million to £12.3 million.
