MessageBird goes for a smaller nest, lets go of almost a third of its staff

In a blog post and an email to employees, MessageBird CEO Robert Vis has announced that the omnichannel communications platform provider is laying off around 31% of its workforce, taking responsibility for growing headcount too quickly and not 'integrating its acquisitions at the speed needed". Vis writes:

"We bootstrapped MessageBird profitably for the first 6 years, spent the next 5 years investing and made the company profitable again late 2021. While we continue to operate profitably in 2022 and sustain our growth rates ahead of our peers, unfortunately we still need to take more drastic measures for the health of our business and to continue to support and prepare our customers and our stakeholders from what is about to come."

After buying video platform 24sessions and customer data platform hull.io, the company made a big move in April last year by acquiring US-based predictive email platform SparkPost for $600 million after closing its Series C round at a hefty $1 billion. The financing round had valued MessageBird at close to $4 billion, but that was in another era.

In the beginning of this year, the Dutch company splashed some cash on the purchase of the domain name bird.com.

Vis says MessageBird will pay 3 months of compensation for all departing employees, and more for those with a longer tenure, among other support measures. He also points out there's good news too: the company has self-reportedly hit a $600 million+ revenue run rate... 

Earlier today, we also reported on the massive cuts over at Germany's Infarm, which is reducing its team by more than half.

It's rough out there, so close to the end-of-year holidays.