Atlanta startup Terminus confirmed it will be laying off "a small percentage" of employees a year after raising $90 million and garnering attention as a possible unicorn.
The layoffs are part of a restructuring, a Terminus spokesperson confirmed to Atlanta Inno. It is unclear exactly how many employees are being laid off. A LinkedIn post by a former employee stated that 15% of Terminus’ workforce are affected. In March of 2021, the company had 200 employees with plans of hiring an additional 50. It has offices in Atlanta, Indianapolis and London.
Impacted employees received severance packages and continued health benefits, according to the spokesperson. The spokesperson declined to release more details, stating they remain confidential.
The marketing software firm has been widely viewed as a possible unicorn, the nickname given to startups that reach at least a $1 billion valuation.
Last March, Terminus raised $90 million led by Boston’s Great Hill Partners, which brought the company’s total capital to $120 million since its founding in 2014. In the past five years, the company has made a string of acquisitions, including predictive data company GrowFlare and Atlanta account-based chat startup Ramble in 2020, data company Sigstr in 2019, and account-based analytics company Brightfunnel in 2018.
Terminus has been considered a rising star in Atlanta's technology ecosystem. In a February 2021 interview with the Atlanta Inno, CEO Tim Kopp referred to 2020 as a “record year of growth.” Deloitte LLC recognized Terminus in its 2020 Tech Fast 500 list for its 524% revenue growth over three years. In June 2021, the company opened an office in London to fuel its United Kingdom expansion. Kopp told Atlanta Inno that the move was a result of increasing demand abroad. Last year, Atlanta Inno named Terminus one of its Blazer winners in the Fire Awards.
The new round of job cuts could indicate a larger trend that may befall more Atlanta startups. Last year, company valuations skyrocketed because of a pent-up investor demand. Some valuations grew to three to five times more than what they would have been previously. That year, five local startups reached unicorn status.
But in recent months, company valuations have been reset, going down anywhere from 40% to 70%. Companies don't tend to seek outside capital if their valuations decrease from when they previously raised money.
Generally, a company struggling to raise its valuation could choose to restructure its business to focus on its most profitable products and cut costs where departments aren't performing as well.
Terminus is co-founded by serial entrepreneur David Cummings as part of the Atlanta Ventures studio program. Terminus helps companies target clients by providing a platform for account-based marketing. It uses data to analyze engagement and results of marketing campaigns.
