Wefox CEO ‘disgusted’ by mass tech layoffs: ‘These are people’

HELSINKI, Finland — The boss of European digital insurance coverage startup Wefox supplied a damning response to tech firms which have laid off staff en masse.

The likes of Meta, Amazon and Twitter have laid off tens of hundreds of staff in response to strain from traders, who wish to see them minimize prices to climate a worldwide financial downturn.

Swedish fintech agency Klarna was among the many first main employers in tech to slash jobs this yr, chopping 10% of its workforce in Could. A number of firms have adopted swimsuit, from these in Huge Tech to venture-backed startups like Stripe.

Julian Teicke, CEO of Wefox, advised CNBC he’s “disgusted” by what he views as a disregard by a few of his friends for his or her staff.

“I am just a little disgusted by statements like, ‘by no means miss a superb disaster’ [or] ‘we’ve to chop the fats,'” Teicke stated in an interview on the sidelines of Slush, a startup convention in Helsinki, Finland.

Enterprise capitalists have been advising startups of their portfolios to chop prices and freeze hiring as economists warn of an impending recession.

Following a bumper 2021 stuffed with IPOs and mega funding rounds, among the Most worthy startups in Europe laid off important numbers of employees and drastically scaled again their growth plans.

In the beginning of Slush on Thursday, Sequoia Capital associate Doug Leone advised founders and traders they need to embrace alternatives introduced by challenges within the broader economic system.

Forecasting a chronic recession worse than the 2008 or 2000 crises, Leone stated some firms will emerge stronger than others. 

“You have got an awesome alternative in entrance of you, in the event you play your playing cards proper,” he stated. “You have got a possibility to cross 10 vehicles. Don’t waste a superb recession.”

In some eyebrow-raising feedback, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, stated his agency was “fortunate” to chop jobs when it did. Siemiatkowski stated that roughly 90% of the individuals laid off had since discovered new jobs.

“If we’d have completed that at present, that most likely sadly wouldn’t have been the case,” Siemiatkowski advised CNBC in an interview.

With out naming names, Teicke slammed the tech trade over its method to mass redundancies.

“These are those who have possibly give up different jobs to affix your enterprise. These are those who have possibly moved to different locations due to you. These are those who have possibly ended romantic relationships.”

Teicke stated managers have a accountability to guard their staff.

“I consider that CEOs must do every little thing of their energy to guard their staff,” he stated. “I have never seen that within the tech trade. And I am disgusted by that.”

“These are people,” he added.

Wefox is a Berlin, Germany-based agency that connects customers in search of insurance coverage with brokers and associate insurers by means of a web based platform. The corporate was valued by traders at $4.5 billion in a July funding spherical.

Wefox says its enterprise is “crisis-resistant.” However fellow insurtechs have needed to make cuts currently, together with Lemonade, which shed 20% of employees at Metromile, a automobile insurance coverage firm it acquired, in July.

Requested whether or not his personal agency must make redundancies in response to shifting investor sentiment, Teicke stated his agency was “cautious” in regards to the macroeconomic atmosphere however had no plans for mass layoffs.

“I do not consider in mass layoffs,” Teicke stated. “We’ll concentrate on efficiency, however not on mass layoffs.” Wefox is “very shut” to reaching profitability subsequent yr, he added.