On October 8, fintech unicorn Stash announced They founded the company in 2015 and last year their duties were reduced while its founders were returning to lead the company they started.
But one important detail was left out: Stash was also restructuring, and about 40 percent of its roughly 220-person workforce, including at least three executives, were out of a job, three people familiar with the matter confirmed. Stash. It was Stash’s second major release of the year.
The changes come just weeks after its chief executive from 2023, Liza Landsman, abruptly left at the end of September. The board, made up mostly of the company’s venture capital investors, turned to founders Ed Robinson and Brandon Krieg to lead the company as co-CEOs, Robinson said. luck.
Robinson resigned from his position, although he remained a member of the board. Krieg stepped back to direct business development. Robinson called Landsman’s departure mutual, saying he was not fired and did not resign. “Liza did incredible things for Stash … She just wasn’t the right person to go to the next stage,” Robinson said. Two people familiar with the matter said Landsman resigned. Landsman declined to comment.
At the time of his departure, there were rumors among employees about a possible buyout, a former employee recalls. And for good reason: There were two buyout offers being considered by the board at the time, the two people say.
One of those bids was for investment platform eToro, for less than Stash’s last valuation of $1.4 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter. The exact amount of the bid could not be confirmed. “We are actively exploring M&A opportunities globally,” said an eToro spokesperson luckdeclining to comment on specifics.
Although the board ultimately rejected those offers in favor of a round of funding, which Robinson says is in the process of closing. The company plans to announce the investment soon.
Robinson declined to share details about the expected funding round, which will be used to pay down a portion of the company’s debt and spend on growth initiatives. says Robinson luck Stash says it frequently receives acquisition offers and estimated that about 80 companies have expressed interest in an acquisition in the past six to nine months. He declined to name a specific buyer.
Robinson said the latest restructuring was intended to remove layers of management and make Stash “less bureaucratic.” He insisted that Stash hasn’t phased out any of its products and that employees are still working on the same things, just with smaller teams. “We really wanted to peel back a lot of layers and try to get the company back on track,” he said.
Stash, whose latest $1.4 billion valuation is due in 2021, operates in a crowded space of technology-based wealth advisory and investment platforms, competing with other companies such as Betterment, Acorns and Robinhood. Stash positions itself as an “investment app for beginners” that provides financial advice to users with a subscription model and manages self-investing services.
Stash, which is based in New York City but whose workforce is largely remote, does not disclose its revenue or other financials.
Stash now claims to have more than 1.2 million subscribers, although the figure has declined since 2022, the platform said. be 2 million The company has struggled with debt and made a series of layoffs before October, including one in March that cut 25% of its workforce, or about 80 people, from a workforce of 220.
The company had 500 employees at the time, according to Axios the report.
“There was a general feeling that pressure from competitors had increased, so things must be tightened,” says one former employee.
The October restructuring was not mentioned in the company’s external announcement about the return of its founders as executives, although two sources said the company announced the layoffs on the same day. A Bloomberg article published on the same day about the restructuring did not mention the cuts.
Robinson said the company is not considering further layoffs and reported positive monthly cash flow in November for the first time in Stash’s 10-year history. He highlighted a new AI investment tool introduced this year and added that Stash is considering adding crypto trading back to its platform, Landsman interrupted.
