Today, Shopify has announced that it is laying off 20 percent of its staff and will be selling its logistics arm to Flexport. This has been a difficult decision, but one that the company believes is necessary for its growth.
Meanwhile, Pando, a startup developing fulfillment management technologies, has raised $30 million in a Series B round bringing the total raised to $45 million. This signals that investments in the supply chain sector remain robust.
Tellus, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed fintech company, is also under scrutiny from the US government. The Senate Banking chair urges the FDIC to investigate the company. The company promises people higher yields on their savings balances by using their money to fund certain US single-family home loans.
Startup founders need to have a firm understanding of the key metrics that venture capitalists consider when deciding to back a company. Paris Heymann, Partner of Index Ventures, has shared some ways to calculate gross dollar retention and net dollar retention which give key insights into a business’s health. He states that predictable businesses are more durable and easier to manage, thus rewarded with higher valuations than unpredictable ones.
TechCrunch+ is offering a membership program that helps founders and startup teams stay ahead. For a 15 percent discount on an annual subscription, use code “DC”. The program includes information on how Slack is planning to put AI at the center of the user experience. For example, it can help someone get the gist of a long thread without having to read each message and generate messages.
Shopify is a leading e-commerce platform with over 1 million merchants worldwide who use it to sell their products online. Founded in 2004, the company has since become a major player in the industry, offering businesses of all sizes the tools they need to compete. With the 20 percent staff reduction, the company seeks to become more lean, efficient and competitive.
Paris Heymann is Partner at Index Ventures, an investment firm based in London and San Francisco. He has invested in early-to-growth stage companies such as Soylent, Asana, Kraken, Alan and Faire. He is a well-known VC, having years of experience in the tech industry. He has written several articles about startups and venture capital in which he offers unique perspectives on how to successfully evaluate and deploy investments.
