Spend Management Firm Pleo Lays Off 15% of Workforce

Expense management solution provider Pleo has laid off 150 employees — 15% of its workforce — as it shifts its target from growth to efficiency. 

The seven-year-old company recently experienced “a chapter of hyper-growth” in which it launched in a new country and added 100 employees each month, CEO Jeppe Rindom said in a letter posted on the company’s website Wednesday (Nov. 2). 

“Yet the world has changed and our next chapter will look different,” Rindom wrote. “We’re no longer operating under a ‘growth first’ mandate but rather a reality of ‘growth through focus and efficiency.’” 

Going forward, Pleo will focus on serving its current markets — the Denmark-based company is now active in 16 European countries — and on driving efficiency throughout its operations. 

“What stays the same is our vision and ambition,” Rindom wrote. “I truly believe that we will continue to revolutionize business spending, giving our customers and users back their time and the power to run their businesses and be on top of spending.” 

This move follows a long list of layoffs announced by tech companies. 

On Thursday (Nov. 3), Stripe said it will lay off 14% of its workforce in a move the company blamed on the “very consequential mistakes” of growing operating costs too quickly and underestimating the possibility of an economic slowdown. 

On the same day, ride-hailing company Lyft said it was shedding 700 members of its staff — 13% of the team — in response to a changing economy, after letting 60 employees go in July and cutting spending in other areas as well. 

One day earlier, on Wednesday (Nov. 2), digital bank Chime announced job cuts amounting to 12% of its team and said that it is focusing its organization to align with priorities based on current market dynamics.