The influencer-marketing platform Grin has laid off “many” staffers — in the company’s third round of layoffs in recent months — a spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.
Grin is a platform that helps brands access influencers for marketing campaigns and provides other creator tools. The company has raised a total of $145 million to date, per Crunchbase data, and was founded in 2014 by Brandon Brown, a former marketing manager at Red Bull.
As the company grew, “a distance also grew” between the platform and its customers, the Grin spokesperson said in a statement.
“We need to close this gap and put the customer back at the center of how we work,” the spokesperson said. “It is no secret that the ongoing changes in the global economic environment have impacted many brilliant companies in the tech sector worldwide, demanding greater adaptability and resilience than ever before. Like many others in our community, Grin is not immune to these pressures and must take decisive action to ensure its sustainability and continued success.”
The spokesperson did not respond to a question about the size of the layoffs but indicated in the statement that “many” employees had been cut.
Previously, the company conducted layoffs impacting roles across marketing and engineering. First, in November 2022, the company laid off 60 staffers, mostly in Grin’s sales department, the company confirmed to BI at the time. Then, in March 2023, the company laid off several staffers across multiple departments, sources close to the company told Business Insider.
Some staffers were caught off guard by the 2023 layoffs.
“I do feel hurt by the cuts,” a former staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect career prospects, told BI last year. “I feel like my team in general pulled all nighters and weekend hours to get a critical project done.”
Grin is among several creator-economy startups that have laid off staff in recent months, including Jellysmack, which laid off 30 staffers in the US and France in January, and esports organization FaZe Clan, which cut 20% of staff in 2023.
The impacted staffers in this latest round of cuts will receive a three-month severance package and extended healthcare benefits, the Grin spokesperson said.
“Reductions are never easy, and we are so grateful and proud of the incredible work our team has delivered to date,” the spokesperson said.
