Fintech unicorn Zepz to lay off 200 employees, sources say

LONDON – The British digital switch firm Zepz dismisses dozens of IT workers and is the closing of enterprise models in Poland and Kenya.

About 200 workers shall be taken by the redundancy measures, instructed two workers who had been made superfluous to CNBC and requested to stay nameless due to the sensitivity of the case.

From January, Zepz-previously generally known as Worlddremit-one worldwide generally known as a worldwide workforce of 1,000 folks, which implies that the dismissals will have an effect on round 20% of his complete workforce.

The dismissals affect varied IT capabilities on the firm, together with database administration, improvement actions and software program engineering, the previous workers mentioned.

ZEPZ confirmed to CNBC that it lowered the workforce to “sustainably assist the following section of lengthy -term strategic targets”. The corporate refused to touch upon the variety of workers affected by the dismissals, explaining a spokesperson that the redundancy course of was underway.

“After the profitable completion of the replatforming efforts, strengthened by superior automation and AI, ZEPZ began a strategic initiative to optimize actions all through the group,” a ZEPZ spokesperson instructed CNBC per e -mail.

“This transformation has strengthened the Know-how Basis and reduces the necessity for sure operational and technical capacities, which led to a proposed discount of roles as a part of the overall plan,” the spokesperson added.

Zepz has been marketed as one of many fintech treasures of Nice -Britain. The corporate was based by Ismail Ahmed, a British entrepreneur born in Somalia who fled the nation through the Somali civil warfare. Ahmed serves at this time as a non-executive chairman of the corporate.

The group was renamed ZEPZ after the takeover of cash switch platform Sendwave in 2020, through which the model and Worlddremit got here below one father or mother firm.

CNBC obtained an organization memo through which the fee -saving measures had been introduced internally in January by Zepz CEO Mark Lenhard.

“At the moment we announce a really tough determination – proposed reductions in our workforce in all head workplace capabilities, and most areas. And particularly we put the closure of our Kenya and Poles employed by entities,” Lenhard mentioned within the Memo .

Zepz Touts himself as a “distant employer”, with regional workplaces in Kenya and Poland.

“It is a tough alternative that influences the lives of our colleagues and pals. That is additionally a alternative that’s essential for the success of our mission to serve immigrants all over the place. Each information are on the similar time,” Lenhard mentioned.

“To be clear, this isn’t a change in technique. We double our mission in an try to broaden our affect sooner,” he added. “In some locations because of this we have now to proceed to prioritize ruthless precedence. In others we have now to grow to be extra environment friendly. In lots of instances it should imply that we rethink at this time how we do issues.”

The spokesperson for ZEPZ insisted that the IT worker’s dismissal “won’t have any affect on clients in a area or market”, and added that the corporate “is dedicated to his migrants to serve worldwide, stimulate innovation And to ship significant monetary options to hundreds of thousands worldwide. “

This isn’t the primary time that Zepz has lower a wave of roles to save lots of on prices. In 2023, Zepz fired 420 workers, who on the time had been roughly 26% of his world workforce. Later that 12 months, Zepz lower one other 30 roles for his folks and advertising and marketing capabilities.

ZEPZ has lengthy been marketed as a possible IPO candidate, however a timeline for that is unclear. Counting the need of Accel, TCV and Leapfrog as traders, the startup was valued at $ 5 billion in 2021. The corporate introduced a financing spherical of $ 267 million final 12 months.

ZEPZ is confronted with competitors from varied exceptional gamers of digital funds, together with PayPal” SmartRevolut and Remtly.

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