Flexport may reduce staff by 20%
Third major round of job cuts in just over a year; had recently raised $260 million from Shopify.
Flexport is planning to cut nearly 20 percent of its staff, according to a report filed by The Information.
It would mark the third major round of job cuts in just over a year at the SoftBank-backed logistics startup, the report added.
A history of layoffs
Flexport comeback CEO Ryan Petersen wrote a note to his employees on October 12, 2023 informing them of the decision to reduce the global headcount by approximately 20 percent. The reduction was a follow up of the January 2023 move to retrench 20 percent of its global workforce, leading to more than 600 employees losing their jobs worldwide.
Petersen returned as CEO in early September 2023 after ousting Dave Clark, an Amazon veteran who joined Flexport a year earlier as the Co-CEO with Petersen and six months later as CEO.
Fund raisings galore
Flexport recently raised $260 million on an uncapped convertible note from Shopify.
Ryan Petersen, CEO, Flexport
Petersen posted on X: "Since I came back to the role of CEO, our team has made massive progress toward returning Flexport to profitability. Further strengthening our cash position with this investment should send a strong message to customers that Flexport is building a long-term sustainable business that will continue to deliver best-in-class technology and services for global businesses.
"This is an important milestone along our journey to build an end-to-end logistics technology platform to make global commerce so easy that there will be more of it. Our fortress balance sheet continues to be one of our most strategic assets as we navigate the uncertain waters of global trade in the 21st century in pursuit of this vision."
The latest funding brings Flexport's total capital raised to $2.7 billion. Its valuation had soared to $8 billion in a February 2022 fundraising round that pulled in $935 million from big Silicon Valley names such as venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, MSD Partners and SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund.
Flexport, in May 2023, acquired Shopify’s logistics assets including fulfilment provider Deliverr and a network of warehouses.
