Stripe has laid off some of the employees who support TaxJar, a tax compliance startup that acquired Last year, TechCrunch learned from multiple sources and first-hand documentation.
The layoffs — carried out over the past month — are tied to Stripe’s decision to end its TaxJar-focused go-to-market efforts at the end of July. Sources estimate that the number of employees affected by the workforce reduction is between 45 and 55 people, at least some of whom have been invited to take 30 days to apply for internal jobs at Stripe.
TechCrunch contacted Stripe for confirmation, and a spokesperson said the company declined to comment. According to LinkedIn, TaxJar co-founder Matt Anderson left Stripe in July, followed by people in the sales, marketing and partnerships teams. Anderson did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Stripe bought TaxJar, a provider of a cloud-based suite of tax services, in April 2021 to help its customers “automatically calculate, report and file sales taxes.” At the time, Stripe told TechCrunch that all 200 employees of the Massachusetts-based business were joining the company. The purpose of the acquisition was to integrate sales tax collection and remittance as a service, one of the most requested features among users.
In July, Stripe went through a 409A valuation process that resulted in a 28% reduction in intrinsic valuation. The wealthy company is valued by investors at $95 billion, but the stock’s estimated new intrinsic value is about $74 billion. Although a downgrade is often seen as a negative event for a company — industry experts say a lower 409A rating, which is determined by a third party and is different from what venture capitalists measure — they make it cheaper for employees to exercise vested options.
Fintech isn’t immune to the downturn – look no further than the share prices of Block (formerly Square), PayPal, Robinhood and Affirm for proof. Global fintech funding in Q2 2022 fell 33% to $20.4 billion through 1,225 deals in the second quarter of 2022 versus the first quarter of 2022, according to CB Insights, and down nearly 46% from the $37.6 billion raised through 1,287 deals in the second quarter of 2021.
This is a similar story, looking at some players in the startup world. On Deck, a venture-backed startup accelerator that invests in other companies, recently cut 25% of its staff and expanded back your accelerator program. Then, months later, it laid off a third of its staff. MainStreet, fresh off layoffs, underwent a recapitalization by some investors. The company was just valued at $500 million last year for its platform that helps startups uncover tax credits.
Also, one-click checkout startup Bolt was fired at least 180 employees and counting marketing, sales and recruiting. The move comes just a month after its closest competitor, Fast, shutdown due to severe burning.
In the world of a late-stage, buy-now, pay-later platform Klarna laid off 10% of its workforceand then was reduced by 85% — from $45.6 billion in July 2021 to $6.7 billion in July this year.
Current and former Stripe and TaxJar employees can contact Natasha Mascarenhas at [email protected] or Signal, a secure messaging app, at (925) 271 0912.