From political turmoil over the judicial reforms planned by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to a slide in the value of the Shekel and a continuation in the downsizing of its firms, February was a tough month for Startup Nation Israel.
Contractions
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Synamedia, an Israeli video software provider formerly known as NDS that was once owned by Cisco, is laying off 12 percent of its employees, or roughly 200 people
The company explained the reasons for the firings are related to the ongoing worldwide financial crisis stating, “Over the past two months, Synamedia, like most tech companies globally in light of economic headwinds, has been undergoing a restructuring, and aligning its product strategies with the evolving demands of the video market. As a result, the reduction of the company’s global workforce is approximately 12%.”
Fireblocks, an Israeli fintech startup that specializes in cybersecurity, is letting go of 5% of its entire staff.
“As we prepare for our next wave of growth, we want to ensure we are optimized to capture and serve Fireblocks’ new verticals, use cases and markets,” said Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov. “As a result of this need, we underwent a small restructuring to the footprint of our global teams which will help position us to more effectively meet our business objectives and customers’ needs in 2023.”
Wix, the do-it-yourself website building platform that gives users total creative freedom online, laid off another 370 employees. Most of the Wix employees who were let go work in the US in customer service fields. This was the firm’s second round of layoffs in just the past six months. Last August Wix let go of 100 people. And last June it fired a few dozen more.
Gong, an Israeli startup and a unicorn that uses artificial intelligence to transform revenue teams, said in February that it was set to lay off about 7% of its workforce, or 80 people.
Lightico, an Israeli startup that offers an enterprise-consumer interaction platform, will lay off 25% of its workforce, about 20 people.
Shutdowns
Israeli-founded cybersecurity company Cyren sent all of its 121 employees home.
In a statement, Cyren explained its situation saying that the layoffs came, “in response to current market conditions and associated challenges with raising additional capital.”
American cybersecurity company BitSight is shutting down the operations of its Israeli office which was once the independent Israeli cybersecurity startup VisibleRisk. VisibleRisk was used as an R&D center by BitSight, but now its 40 employees will be losing their jobs.
Playika has shuttered its subsidiary Israeli studio Jelly Button entirely. Playtika acquired Jelly Button in 2017.
