Convoy, a digital freight business, announced further layoffs on Monday, the tech giant’s second round of layoffs in a year after laying off 7% of its workers in June.
However, the Seattle-based company declined to reveal how many staff were let go “out of respect for our employees – some conversations are still ongoing,” a Convoy spokeswoman told FreightWaves on Monday.
The representative acknowledged that the terminated employees were given severance compensation but provided no other information concerning the layoffs.
Convoy, which has a market capitalization of $3.8 billion, raised $260 million in new funding in mid-April, with $160 million coming from a series E preferred equity transaction led by current investors Baillie Gifford and T. Rowe Price and $100 million coming from Hercules Capital Inc.
This year, FreightWaves has reported on a flood of FreightTech companies that have laid off hundreds of staff or placed hiring freezes due to economic uncertainties.
In addition to the layoffs, Convoy plans to reorganize and realign its resources toward “a smaller, more concentrated number of customer-centric strategic projects to drive development,” according to a letter to staff received by FreightWaves.
“Our customers, like most organizations today, are facing a succession of seemingly unprecedented external pressures,” said Dan Lewis, CEO, and co-founder of Convoy. “In this context, firms that accept change as the new normal and build resilience will succeed in the years ahead.”
Convoy also consolidated all of its shipper-facing business functions — including shipper, marketplace growth, marketing, and communications — under a single group led by Ryan Gavi.
Dorothy Li, Convoy’s chief technology officer, will be developing unified entities to connect directly with Gavin’s new group, according to the Convoy letter.
Melissa McCann-Tilton, the company’s chief revenue officer, will assist Convoy’s president and CEO before leaving the FreightTech firm at the end of the year.
Spencer Hennigar will oversee Convoy’s shipper sales and account management, reporting to Gavin.
“The organizational adjustments and new priorities we are implementing today will focus our priorities, as well as the energy and ethos of our company and culture, on the things that our customers appreciate the most from Convoy,” Lewis added. “We will assist our customers in becoming more agile and resilient while also securing Convoy’s position as a valued and strategic partner.”
