Nigerian crypto startup Quidax has laid off 20% or 20 of its just over 100-strong staff, according to a company statement shared with TechCabal today. The startup’s confirmed to TechCabal that this layoff is unrelated to the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and instead a response to unfavourable macroeconomic conditions.
The startup, which is the latest African company to cut staff count, in August slashed employees’ salaries by 30% and team leads’ by 50% for three months, but just after the arrangement’s expiration period, the company is letting go of 20 of its remaining employees.
Since its launch in 2017 by Nigerian duo, CEO Buchi Okoro and CIO Morris Ebieroma, Quidax has raised a total funding of $3.6 million, with its last funding of $3 million coming from the public sale of its token, QDX. Earlier this year, the startup spent millions of dollars on celebrity endorsement deals and TV sponsorships which culminated in website traffic that crashed its website briefly.
“We made some really hard decisions to position ourselves for the winter. My number one priority right now is to focus on the team morale and keep business operations running as smoothly as possible. I am sure the tide will turn and we’ll be stronger and wise for it,” Okoro shared in a written statement to TechCabal.
According to a company statement, laid-off employees will be offered a severance package and support in their transition. “We’ve been privileged to work with people who light up any room with their personalities, brilliance, and hard work. If the tides turn, these are people we would be eager to rehire. We can boast that they are more than capable of doing a great job anywhere,” the statement reads.
With crypto past its peak, a global downturn and the backlash of the FTX’s bankruptcy on the wider crypto industry, the startup in a statement said that a workforce trim is the business’s proactive measure to shield itself. “We’ve observed what’s happening with the global economy and we know that now is not the time to just chill and see how things go. Instead, it’s time to be proactive. Our priority is making sure that even if things get worse globally and in the crypto market, we can weather the storm and still provide value to our customers. As a result, we’ve had to scale down a couple of things, including our workforce,” Quidax said in a statement.
“One quality that so many companies in our industry have is resilience. Crypto itself is resilient. 14 years ago, people laughed at the concept of bitcoin. Ten years ago, what ethereum was building sounded like a fairytale. But today, they are still here. Every now and then, they might change direction, but they are still here solving everyday problems,” the statement concludes.
