Banking-as-a-service startup Synapse, led by Indian American CEO and co-founder Sankaet Pathak has confirmed that it has laid off 86 people, or about 40% of the company.
The startup was founded in 2014 by Bryan Keltner and India-born Pathak, who came to the US to study but grew frustrated at the difficulty of opening a bank account without US social security history.
READ: Lay-offs make US a risky place to work (February 1, 2023)
The San Francisco-based company, which operates a platform enabling banks and fintech companies to easily develop financial services had let go of 18% of its workforce in June too, according to TechCrunch.
“We deeply regret saying goodbye to incredibly talented and dedicated members of Synapse team,” a company spokesperson stated in an email to TechCrunch on Oct 7.
“However, we have a strong group in place to manage all of our operations and support our customers going forward. We don’t have anything to add to this right now beyond what’s been previously reported.”
Justifying the June layoffs, Pathak wrote in a blog post then that the company was doing so as “the current macroeconomic conditions have begun to impact our clients and platforms, affecting our anticipated growth.”
“While this is a challenging time, we remain confident in the underlying fundamentals and potential of our business. The steps we are taking will position us for continued success and allow us to adapt to the evolving needs of our clients and the market,” he added.
Laid-off employees on H-1B visas share their stories (January 27, 2023)
Earlier this week, Fintech Business Weekly publisher Jason Mikula posted on X that “one of the company’s largest clients, Mercury, gave notice of non-renewal & plans to move directly to Evolve.” He had also heard that the company was actually laying off at least 130 people.
BREAKING:
Mass layoffs at banking-as-a-service platform Synapse (hearing at least 130+ people, which is 50% of the company.)
One of the company's largest clients, Mercury, gave notice of non-renewal & plans to move directly to Evolve.
More as this develops.
— Jason Mikula (@mikulaja) October 4, 2023
In 2019, TechCrunch reported on the company’s $33 million Series B raise led by Andreessen Horowitz after rebranding from SynapseFi. That was the company’s last known fundraiser. In total, it has brought in just over $50 million in venture capital.