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Equity management platform Map, which was last privately valued at $7.4 billion, has cut 10% of its workforce, confirming earlier rumors that layoffs were in the works. Using LinkedIn data, the layoffs could affect about 200 employees.
Today’s strike coincides with 2020 workforce cuts, an event CEO Henry Ward attributed in part to the impact of the coronavirus on business as a decline in new customers. Years later, Ward is striking the same tone.
In an email to employees today at TechCrunch, the CEO said, “If our customers suffer, we suffer. And now the entire tech and venture ecosystem is suffering. The company said it cut investments in travel, supplier spending, marketing spending and new bets, but ultimately had to cut headcount.” .
Severance packages include 2.5 months of severance with one additional week of vacation per completed year of service and extended mental health care services. 30-minute consultation with an immigration consultant, for those who rely on Karma for visas. Those not affected by the layoff have the option of voluntarily resigning with a severance package.
The cash-strapped company is dealing with more than just macroeconomic conditions that have caused thousands of tech companies to lay off workers.
As TechCrunch reported earlier today, Maps is suing its former CTO, Jerry Talton, who was fired “for cause” three weeks ago, on December 23, according to the company. In the Map lawsuit, the company alleges Talton’s “wrongful and illegal actions as a Map executive,” including discrimination and sexual harassment of at least nine women as a Map spokeswoman.
It doesn’t help that users of a number of charting services, from cap chart management to fund management, have been less than impressed with the platform in recent months. TechCrunch spoke to one fund manager who transitioned from the platform and said his team had four different account managers in less than two years of contract, which “really didn’t help the continuity and understanding of the fund and our needs.”
According to Crunchbase data, Maps has raised $1.1 billion in venture capital investors, including a recent $500 million Series G round in Silver Lake. Other investors in Karta include Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Significant venture backing, as this down market reminds us time and time again, is not necessarily a competitive advantage. Karta has been embroiled in previous lawsuits and is now taking on the current challenge, perhaps unsurprisingly due to more competition in recent years.
Its closest competitor, Angelist Ventures, has raised significantly less capital at around $200 million. When TechCrunch asked Angelist Ventures CEO Avlok Kohli about the latest product changes that put him in competition with Karta, he shrugged — saying he had nothing new to add. “Ultimately, there will be a few people who have the ability to build a product that’s actually calculated,” Kohli said in a previous interview. “By skills I don’t mean technical skills, but the institutional knowledge of how to build something.”
The difficulty of building a company in the venture services landscape was further highlighted by the recent shutdown of Assur, a fintech company that helped investors launch special purpose vehicles. According to Axios, Asur did not provide investors with any reason behind its closure beyond the following statement: “The industry has grown exponentially in the decade since we founded our company.” Current market conditions have allowed the firm to reassess its business model.
Let’s see if the evolution of the industry, whether it’s more competition or graveyard companies, is a dynamic that can continue to map.
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