Coinbase will reduce its workforce by 18% to 'stay healthy during this downturn'

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Daily Crunch: Coinbase will reduce its workforce by 18% to 'stay healthy during this downturn'

Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps

Wed, June 15, 2022, 7:05 AM·6 min read

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More layoffs: We tried to think of something more clever than that, but let’s just get on with the bad news. Coinbase, Redfin and Compass are the latest companies to announce that big chunks of their employees will not be soon. Ivan writes that Coinbase laid off 18% of its workforce, or about 1,100 people, which had everyone doing the math on how many employees it actually had. And though Coinbase was well within its right to cut access to its systems before telling affected employees, we can’t help but wonder if there were some early birds wondering what the heck was going on. Meanwhile, Mary Ann reports a one-two punch of higher mortgage rates and fewer home sales led both Redfin and Compass to lay off a combined 920 employees today.
“Gonna take some time to do the things we never had”: Launch Africa, a venture capital firm that has already backed over 100 startups, closed its first fund with $36.3 million in commitments, Tage reports. The fund boasts an impressive list of over 230 retail and institutional investors spanning 40 countries, and a large portion of it has already been put to work in startups.
SPACs lie here: We may now be reporting tech layoffs every day, but it wasn’t that long ago that we were doing the same for special purpose acquisition companies, fondly known as SPACs. Alex and Anna look into the fruits of that labor, but we warn you some of it is rotten.

Startups and VC

On the one hand, we write a lot of words about recessions. On the other, it seems like there’s a flurry of new funds popping up left, right and center.