Gorillas to double down on UK as half of Berlin team laid off
Gorillas has been the latest startup to announce a slew of job cuts, with almost 300 staff in the lurch, after Klarna also revealed layoffs earlier this week.
The rapid delivery app is to cut around 320 roles at its Berlin headquarters, according to reports from German news site Manager Magazin.
“We thoughtfully and carefully looked at our teams against our focused business objectives and have decided with a heavy heart to adjust the size of our global workforce,” the firm said, in a statement this week.
“In line with the focus on our new key priorities, on our core European markets and on our path to profitability, nearly 300 team members of our global office workforce will be leaving Gorillas,” it added.
Gorillas said it was looking to lower costs while it raises extra funding.
The platform will also withdraw from a number of markets, including Italy, Spain, Denmark and Belgium, Gorillas has confirmed.
It is hoping to double down on hitting profitability in key markets – Germany, France, UK, Netherlands and the US – where more than 90 per cent of Gorillas’ revenue arises from.
Earlier this week, Klarna said it was planning to slash some 700 roles – around 10 per cent of the firm’s workforce – as the buy now pay later firm warned of a “likely recession” on the horizon.
“What we are seeing now in the world is not temporary or short-lived, and hence we need to act,” said chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski.
Rapid delivery firm Gopuff was reportedly readying to lay off hundreds of employees earlier this year, after a $15bn valuation last year.
Some three per cent of the start-up’s workforce could be hit by job losses, according to The Information.
Job cuts are included in a bid to slash annual costs by some $40m, the news website said, citing two people close to the company.
Businesses have been hit by spiralling labour and fuel costs, as inflation in the UK now stands at a 40-year high.