Tier Mobility, the German micromobility giant that Spin recently acquired from Ford, is laying off 16% of its workforce, or 180 people, according to a LinkedIn message from CEO Lawrence Leuschner and an open letter from the board reviewed by ukbusinessupdates.com.
“Ultimately, we need to respond to the current economic and financing environment by reducing the number of projects and business lines we focus on as a company to accelerate our path to profitability,” Leuschner wrote.
Leuschner also noted his commitment to helping laid-offs find new roles. Tier has a Tier Alumni Page with details of the people leaving to help recruiters. While Tier did not respond to ukbusinessupdates.com’s requests for more information, the layoffs appear to involve different teams, primarily in Berlin, with the highest concentration of layoffs coming from marketing, market development and technology teams. According to Leuschner’s letter, most employees were briefed by team leaders in “1-2-1” meetings on Tuesday morning.
Tier’s decision to cut staff is the latest in a series of layoffs at tech startups that are mostly concentrated at late-stage companies that are finding the current economic environment difficult to increase renewal rounds and grow in their valuations. Tier was previously valued at $2 billion.
The transport space has not been immune to this. In June, Bird laid off 23% of its staff, or about 140 employees, due to an urgent need to tighten the belt and restructure internally. Last month, Lyft let go of 2% of its staff, or about 60 employees, because it shut down its own car rental program. And this week, Ford Motor Company said it plans to lay off 3,000 workers as it restructures toward electrification.
The news of Tier comes as the micromobility operator appeared to be experiencing a resurgence after raising $200 million last October and going on a startup shopping spree. Last November, Tier acquired Nextbike to double its commitment to offering e-bikes and e-scooters. In December, the company bought the Italian unit of Wind Mobility to expand geographically. By March, Tier had acquired Fantasmo to bring in-house the startup’s camera-based scooter parking validation technology, as well as Ford’s Spin, which launched the operator into the North American market and made it the largest operator in the world. All those deals, except for Ford, were probably mostly stock deals, meaning Tier didn’t necessarily have to pay money for them, according to industry experts.
“We have moved away from the strong focus we had on rapid growth and geographic expansion that defined the company’s early years to ensuring a greater return on investment for our current footprint,” Leuschner wrote in his letter to staff, noting that about three months ago, Tier had been transparent with the team about the company’s goals to respond more quickly to the current economic downturn and the financing climate. “We have also made the decision to stop or pause specific projects and workflows that currently cannot demonstrate a clear path to profitability, and we have shared these decisions with you as they are made.”
Team members who have been fired have access to severance pay, employee support in finding their next position including help writing resume, LinkedIn and cover letter, access to alumni page, mental health support for three months after leaving company and the ability to keep all office equipment and laptops for permanent employees. Tier also offers stock and drops its one-year cliff on ESOP for anyone hired in the past year.
This story has been updated with information from CEO Lawrence Leuschner’s open letter.
