Blend Labs is the latest fintech to undergo a large-scale layoff, saying Wednesday it would shed about 340 people.
The reduction amounts to 28% of the workforce at the San Francisco-based company, which said it is making several leadership changes at the same time,Blend provides technology tools to major home lenders and has been hit hard by the sharp downturn in mortgage volumes. It posted a loss of nearly $134 million in the third quarter of 2022. Its stock has cratered from almost $10 last February to $1.70 today.
The turbulent economic climate of the last year, with inflation and interest rates rising and investor confidence falling, has taken its toll on the Bay Area's once-burgeoning fintech community, with Stripe, Plaid, Chime and others among those handing pink slips to hundreds of workers.CEO Nima Ghamsari said that company is undertaking a plan to align its operations to the current market realities.
“A key step in that effort is the significant reduction in our overall expenses,” he said in the statement. Meanwhile, President Tim Mayapoulos will leave the company this quarter, as will Head of Finance and Facilities Marc Greenberg and Head of Legal, Compliance and Risk Crystal Sumner. A new executive, Amir Jafari, will become head of finance and administration.