The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have touched nearly every industry, community and ecosystem in the world, including Atlanta tech companies and startups.
As layoffs sweep the country and even hit the tech industry, more local companies are announcing the difficult decision to furlough or layoff employees.
According to the United States Department of Labor, Georgia is among the states to see the most job losses and unemployment claims. Data collected from February to April 23 shows there are 216 jobless claims per 1,000 people in the workforce in Georgia.
As developments surrounding the coronavirus and its effects on our local tech community unfold, we will monitor the situation and report on any findings. Here are the layoffs and furloughs we know about based on state mass layoff filings -- or WARN -- and Inno's reporting.
- G2 Secure Staff: The Irving, Texas-based staffing agency that uses tech to fill aviation service jobs filed a WARN notice with the Georgia Department of Labor on March 27. According to the notice, 122 people in Clayton County were affected.
- Wencor Group: A solutions provider for the aviation industry based in Peachtree City filed a WARN notice on March 27. Fifty-four people in Fayette County were affected.
- Mindbody: This California-based SaaS company provides cloud-based scheduling and other business management for the wellness industry, including gyms, spas and salons. The company filed a WARN notice on April 3 in Fulton County that affects 89 people.
- Atlanta Tech Village: ATV, the fourth largest incubator in the country and a frequent gathering spot for those in the tech, startup and innovation community, laid off half of its team members, according to Vice President Karen Houghton. Atlanta Inno received an anonymous tip on Thursday that a number of employees were laid off at the Village. We reached out to Houghton, who confirmed the news.
- King of Pops: This popsicle startup that began during the Recession after founder Steven Carse was laid off from AIG laid off 50% of its workers due to the pandemic. Just short of celebrating their 10th birthday, Carse told What Now Atlanta that he was forced with the difficult decision of letting go more than half the company.
- Kabbage: The Atlanta-based startup that supplies funding directly to small businesses and consumers through an automated lending platform furloughed a “significant number” of employees, TechCrunch reported, citing a copy of a staff memo. The report notes executive staff are taking a “considerable” pay cut and closing the company’s Bangalore, India office. Kabbage declined to comment on the matter.
- OneTrust: Atlanta-based privacy, security and third-party risk technology platform OneTrust laid off 10-15% of its global workforce, according to spokeswoman Gabrielle Ferree. As of February, OneTrust had 1,500 employees across 10 offices around the world. The news comes less than two months after the privacy startup raised its largest funding round to date — a $210 million Series B. The funding increased the unicorn’s valuation to $2.7 billion. The company hit unicorn status in 2019 after raising a $200 million Series A.
