Fintech unicorn Zepz to lay off 420 employees: Report

Fintech unicorn Zepz is laying off 420 employees, or 26 per cent of its workforce, and has started informing those impacted, the media reported.

According to CNBC, the job cuts at the London-based money transfer service provider, which is a Western Union rival, will mainly impact Zepz's customer care and engineering teams.

Zepz said that it was implementing "workforce optimisation" to account for roles that had been duplicated following its combination of Sendwave with WorldRemit, according to the report.

Zepz and Sendwave are being used by more than 11 million users across 150 countries.

What benefits will the impacted employees get?

The impacted employees will be offered help via counselling, coaching, career and CV development and job applications.

The decision marked "an important and necessary step in transitioning from two vast, segmented teams to one dynamic organisation under Zepz, and laying ambitious foundations towards our long-term strategic direction as a portfolio business", said Mark Lenhard, Zepz CEO.

"The remittance industry has maintained robust growth despite global economic conditions, and we've seen this audience take great measures to ensure their loved ones are supported as costs rise around the world," he added.

Zepz raises cash in 2021

Zepz raised cash in August 2021 at a $5 billion valuation, with $292 million of new funding from investors led by hedge fund Farallon Capital.

Zepz was founded by British-Somalian entrepreneur Ismail Ahmed in 2010. He stepped down as CEO in 2018, and remains on the board as non-executive chairman.