Enterprise Weekly #402: Shifts in the Talent Market, Unicorn Births, and More
The list of tech layoffs continues to grow.
Fear of the current conditions continuing or worsening are driving companies across the board to cut spend. Even companies with >2 years of runway are making cuts to make cash last given that future funding rounds remain unpredictable and customers are lengthening their sales cycle.
That said, after years of facing challenges to compete in a tight and expensive labor market, early-stage (Seed, Series A and Series B) companies can capitalize on this market shift. With more talent available and less competition, they can take the time to thoughtfully find those one to two senior and mid-level key hires to help unlock their next phase of growth.
Meanwhile, more mature startups hold the primary concentration of layoffs (with the lucky ones only enacting hiring freezes). To put the state of late-stage companies into some context, unicorn births fell 80 - 85% in Q3 and will probably continue to fall. At its peak in 2021, more than 40 new unicorns were minted each month. In the last three months, there have been an average of 8. While this may sound like a drastic dip (that’s because it is), showing the full picture pre-covid demonstrates levels may just be going back to normal.
If you or your team is hiring, check out Layoffs.fyi Tracker for a list of talent!
📚 Read more news:
TechCrunch: 100+ VCs Firms Join VCs for Repro Coalition To Support Reproductive Rights
WSJ: Treasury Says Ransomware Incidents, Costs Soared in 2021
📚 More to follow:
Company: Common Fate
Role: Community Success Engineer
Technology: Cloud Security & Permissions Management
Funding: Unannounced
🌟 Company of the Week 🌟
WorkTorch raises $2.2M led by Tenzing Capital
HR Tech • Seed • Wichita, KS
Founders: Deborah Gladney (CEO), Angela Muhwezi-Hall (COO)
5Mins raises $5.7M led by AlbionVC
HR Tech • Seed • London, UK
Plain raises $6M led by Connect Ventures and Index Ventures
Future of Work • Seed • London, UK
Directus raises $7M led by True Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • New York, NY
Teamraderie raises $7M led by Founders Fund
Future of Work • Venture • Los Altos, CA
SparkPlug raises $8M led by Lightbank
HR Tech • Series A • San Francisco, CA
Antavo raises $10.1M led by Euroventures
Future of Work • Series A • London, UK
Worldr raises $11M led by Molten Ventures
Risk / Security • Seed • London, UK
Exotanium raises $12M led by Cambium Capital and Celesta Capital
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series A • Ithaca, NY
Veriti raises $12M led by Insight Partners
Risk / Security • Series A • Tel Aviv, Israel
EdgeDB raises $15M led by Nava Ventures and Accel
Infrastructure / Dev Tool • Series A • San Francisco, CA
Equals raises $16M led by Andreessen Horowitz
Future of Work • Series A • San Francisco, CA
Wib raises $16M led by Koch Disruptive Technologies
Risk / Security • Series A • New York, NY
Coefficient raises $18M led by Battery Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • Palo Alto, CA
Mem raises $23.5M led by OpenAI
Collaboration / Productivity • Venture • Los Altos, CA
Mytraffic raises $29.8M led by AXA Venture Partners
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series B • Paris, France
Beekeeper raises $50M led by EGSB, Kreos Capital and Others
HR Tech • Series C • San Francisco, CA
Laika raises $50M led by Fin Capital
Risk / Security • Series C • New York, NY
Island raises $60M led by Georgian
Risk / Security • Series C • Dallas, TX