African fintech startup Chipper Cash lays off 13% of its workforce
Nigerian cross-border payments startup Chipper Cash has laid off nearly 13% of its workforce, reports indicate.
Many employees from various departments took to their LinkedIn accounts to announce the developments which were later confirmed by VP of Engineering Erin Furaso in a social media post.
Chipper Cash is one of Africa’s high-valued fintechs and offers a no-fee peer-to-peer cross-border payment service in Africa via its app. Founded in 2018 by Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, the company’s services are used across seven African countries: Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, and Kenya.
Last year, the company raised $150 million in a Series C round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-collapsed cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX, and a few weeks after announcing its acquisition of Zambian fintech company Zoona. It’s not clear whether the recent layoffs are related in any way to the recent collapse of FTX.
Having raised substantial amounts last year, Chipper Cash became a unicorn, with a valuation slightly above $2 billion.
Tech-based companies continue to experience layoffs amidst fears of a recession that have seen investors hold tighter onto their money. Other that have affected the public markets have also contributed to the market’s extreme cash crunch across several organizations.
