Motive, formerly KeepTruckin, has laid off 237 employees, or roughly 6% of its workforce, due to operating cost constraints and demand issues confronting the San Francisco-based freight solutions provider.
Motive CEO Shoaib Makani stated that the company experienced rapid growth over the last two years, increasing from 1,450 to 3,700 employees, fueled by “an unprecedented surge in new business formation and expansion of existing firms operating in the physical economy.”
“While the majority of our investment was well placed, it is now clear that we over-hired in certain areas,” Makani wrote in an employee letter posted on the company’s website. “Over the last two years, our small and medium-sized business (SMB) segment has grown rapidly, and we have scaled our SMB sales team accordingly.” However, the market has recently shifted. Fuel prices have skyrocketed, the cost of capital has risen, and demand is contracting.”
According to Makani, the layoffs impacted employees in the company’s SMB segment and the recruiting department.
Makani did not say where the layoffs occurred. Motive has offices in Nashville, Tennessee, Buffalo, New York, as well as Canada, India, Pakistan, and Taiwan, in addition to San Francisco.
The layoffs come just months after Motive raised $150 million in Series F funding, boosting the company’s valuation to $2.85 billion.
Motive began as KeepTruckin in San Francisco in 2013. Motive changed its name in April to reflect its intention to provide hardware and software applications for industries other than trucking and logistics.
Motive’s product offerings include an AI dashcam that allows fleets to detect unsafe driving behavior and help businesses reduce accidents, as well as a corporate card that allows fleet managers to track fleet operations.
