Business

Raleigh software firm Pendo announces new round of layoffs. How many are affected?

Todd Olson, Pendo CEO and founder, shows off the software company’s new downtown Raleigh headquarters Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022.
Todd Olson, Pendo CEO and founder, shows off the software company’s new downtown Raleigh headquarters Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. tlong@newsobserver.com

Pendo, which had been among the Triangle’s fastest-growing software startups, announced layoffs on Monday in a move that affected 12% of its staff. Worldwide, 100 employees lost their jobs, including 42 people based at the company’s headquarters in Raleigh.

The cuts follow up a more modest round of layoffs in September, which impacted 5% of Pendo’s global workforce.

“Like many of our peers in tech, we are feeling the impact of continued economic uncertainty,” Pendo CEO Todd Olson said in a statement provided to The News & Observer. “This is a move we had to make to address the current global business reality and to make sure we have the right strategy and organizational structure in place to get to profitability and to achieve our long-term vision.”

The company said the cuts spanned multiple departments.

Pendo platforms allow customers to collect data on how their own customers use their products. Since launching in 2013, it has become a startup unicorn, with a valuation surpassing $2.6 billion. In 2022, Pendo opened its new downtown Raleigh headquarters in the Raleigh Crossing tower.

The company has been a recent fixture on the annual Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies list. Prior to the pandemic, its headcount surpassed 400 people and then soared to more than 1,000 over the next few years. Olson has openly discussed taking Pendo public, and on Tuesday, the company confirmed it plans to hit the stock market “once market conditions improve.”

Some Triangle-area employees who lost their jobs announced the news on social media.

“After 3 years at Pendo I and many other great people (around 100 in total) were impacted by layoffs this morning,” wrote Michael Garvin, the director of security compliance at Pendo, in a tweet on Monday. “I enjoyed working with my team and peers driving information assurance and security forward.”

This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.

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This story was originally published June 13, 2023 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Raleigh software firm Pendo announces new round of layoffs. How many are affected?."

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Brian Gordon
The News & Observer
Brian Gordon is the Business & Technology reporter for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. He writes about jobs, startups and big tech developments unique to the North Carolina Triangle. Brian previously worked as a senior statewide reporter for the USA Today Network. Please contact him via email, phone, or Signal at 919-861-1238.
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