In a year of big moves expected of Bitwise Industries after it announced in 2021 that it was opening a Buffalo location, the Fresno, California-based company appears to have had a big hiccup.
The company, which trains tech workers in underserved communities, recently furloughed its entire workforce of about 900 workers, reported The Fresno Bee on May 29. That includes employees in Fresno, Merced, Bakersfield and Oakland, California, as well as seven other cities across the country, including Buffalo, according to the publication.
The business did not immediately return Business First’s requests for comment.
“Several critical (financial) transactions either did not materialize or materialized unfavorably, and the quantum of that is quite large,” Bitwise co-founder and co-CEO Jake Soberal told The Fresno Bee late Monday. “We held an emergency board meeting today and the difficult decision was arrived at that it was in the best interest of the company to furlough all employees effective immediately.”
“We expect this to be a very temporary action by the board and executive team while we determine the next steps,” Soberal added.
Early this year, CJ Banks, vice president of Bitwise in Buffalo, talked about his big plans for 2023. Expectations included securing a temporary location while work took place on its planned facility at 368 Sycamore St., owned by Douglas Jemal, on Buffalo’s East Side.
As of January, the local team had six members and started last year a virtual pre-apprenticeship program with 61 students. Banks hoped to start in-person trainings at the temporary location, aiming to hire 60% of the apprentices internally.
And the year seemed to be off to a good start, as Bitwise announced in late February that it'd raised $80 million and announced expansion plans into Chicago.
Jemal’s company, Jemal's Sycamore LLC, earlier this month secured a $4.89 million construction loan through Tompkins Community Bank for work to the Sycamore Street building, which is the building Bitwise picked for its Buffalo site, according to documents filed with the Erie County clerk's office. The building will be completed by the end of the year, Jemal told Business First.
Currently, it’s unclear how or if these furloughs will impact the Buffalo location and East Side building long term.
