Rapid, the API marketplace startup that achieved a $1 billion valuation last year, has laid off a further 70 employees, following a previous round of layoffs that saw 50% of its staff let go. The latest cuts have reduced Rapid’s headcount by 82%, with just 42 employees remaining at the company, according to an anonymous insider.
The source also revealed that the layoffs have affected all of Rapid’s remaining European workers, as well as some based in the US. Rapid’s platform enables businesses to integrate third-party APIs and manage their own APIs, and it secured $150 million in a Series D funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 in March 2022.
Rapid’s CEO, Marc Friend, took over from founder Iddo Gino only recently, with Gino becoming a technical advisor. The insider claims that Gino was removed by the board, and that a sale of the company is likely to follow, with the price expected to be “well below” the $1 billion valuation of last year.
Rapid had rebranded from RapidAPI in November, announcing that over 4 million developers used its public API hub, which featured over 40,000 APIs from companies such as Microsoft, Twilio, and Google. The company had also reported doubling its employee numbers to 200, and cited enterprise customers such as Formula 1’s Scuderia AlphaTauri, ATA, Poly, and Sun Life Financial.
However, the source told TechCrunch that the layoffs were rushed and messy, with no support offered and some incorrect terminations being issued before being rescinded. Rapid has yet to comment on the latest developments.
