One of Wisconsin's most highly valued tech startups Fetch Rewards laid off 100 employees Monday in order to "preserve the business's overall health," according to a statement from the shopping rewards app and consumer data company.
The job cuts represented around 12% of its staff. After the layoffs, the Madison-based company has 748 employees, Fetch director of corporate communications Allison Geyer said in an email Wednesday.
"Like many in the tech space, the overarching macroeconomic conditions have caused us to reevaluate the team structure," Geyer said.
Although the recent wave of tech layoffs hasn't impacted Wisconsin companies as dramatically as companies on the coasts, firms with local tech presences such as Exact Sciences Corp., Zywave, Fiserv Inc., Bright Cellars and Northwestern Mutual have confirmed layoffs of varying scales in recent months, often citing macroeconomic factors.
Sixteen of the Fetch employees who were laid off were based in Wisconsin, Geyer said. Fetch also has offices in Chicago, New York, Boston and Birmingham, Alabama.
Fetch was among the Wisconsin-based companies impacted by the recent Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) meltdown, but the decision to restructure the company was in the works prior to the SVB situation, Geyer said.
News of the Fetch layoffs was first reported Tuesday by The Information, which also reported that Fetch had set the goal of reaching profitability in 2023 and either being acquired or going public rather than having to do another fundraising round, according to a person briefed on the plans.
Fetch has no current plans for an exit, Geyer said, but it continues to "work toward optimizing our business such that we're in the best position when the time comes," she said. It's in a position to continue scaling in 2023 to serve its growing user base, she added.
The company last raised capital in April 2022, when it announced a $240 million round that valued Fetch at $2.5 billion. It has raised more than $500 million since its founding in 2013.
Fetch reported 407% revenue growth between 2019 and 2021, placing it on a recent Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private Midwest companies.
The Fetch employees that were recently laid off will receive severance, career coaching and access to health insurance via COBRA, Geyer said.
