Validity, a Boston-based customer data quality startup with a large presence in Tampa has laid off about 130 employees worldwide, including 28 at its principal office in Tampa.
The cuts amount to just under a third of Validity’s global workforce, leaving the company with just under 400 full-time workers, chief marketing officer Charlie Ungashick confirmed in an email to Boston Inno. It's headquarters are in Boston and its international headquarters are in London.
"Unfortunately, we had 28 employees from our Tampa office who were impacted by our COVID-19 layoff," Ungashick said, adding the company was in an 'aggressive growth mode.' Nearly 100 employees were hired in the last six months. “Unfortunately, the pandemic has forced us to moderate this growth and so, yes, 100% of the layoffs were COVID-19 related.”
Had it not been for the coronavirus, Validity would have hired another 100 employees worldwide this year, Ungashick said.
Ungashick said Validity offered laid-off workers “enhanced severance” and accelerated the vesting stock options for recently hired employees as well as those who joined Validity through acquisition. Validity has acquired one company a year for the last three years: BriteVerify in 2018, ReturnPath in 2019 and, in February this year, 250ok.
In concert with the layoffs, Validity CEO Mark Briggs has voluntarily reduced his compensation by 20 percent. The startup has also enacted a number of other cost-saving initiatives, Ungashick said, though he did not specify what those entail.
