Kuda, a well-known challenger bank with bases in Nigeria and the UK, has joined the list of tech firms in Africa that are letting go of part of their staff.
The digital bank acknowledged the layoffs through email, stating that fewer than 5%, or roughly 23 workers, of its 450-person workforce, were let go.
The company’s figures pale in comparison to other layoffs that have occurred recently within the African tech industry, particularly among businesses that have recently raised significant amounts of venture financing.
Other African IT businesses that have let go of employees include Swvl, which let go of 400 of its employees, Wave, which let go of about 300 employees, 54gene, which let go of 95 employees, and Vezeeta, which let go of 50 employees.
It might be recalled that Kuda went on a recruitment drive for designers in July. However, the company held a town hall discussion last month and reduced the number of roles that appeared unnecessary and ejected employee in order to trim costs.
The fintech, one of Africa’s soonicorns, recently raised $55 million in a Series B round that valued it at $500 million. The money was intended to be used to expand its offerings for Nigeria as well as to get ready to launch in additional nations like Ghana and Uganda. The bank charges zero to minimal fees for cards, account maintenance, and transfers.
The startup, which has garnered over $90 million from backers like Valar Ventures and Target Global, also has plans to expand outside of Africa to Pakistan.
To manage operations in this area and expand its over 4 million client base, it recently hired Elena Lavezzi, a former Revolut executive in Europe, as chief strategy officer and Pavel Khristolubov, a former Tinkoff executive, as its global chief operational officer.
