Ecommerce lender and one-time Unicorn Wayflyer plans to lay off c.200 staff in Ireland, England and the US reduce headcount to c.300 people.

The company employs about 200 people in Ireland and it is believed that up to 70 of them could be made redundant.

In a message to staff, co-founder and CEO Aidan Corbett said Wayflyer scaled the business very aggressively and in hindsight tried to do too much too soon.

“We are sorry to be losing many great colleagues who have helped Wayflyer become a market leader in revenue based finance,” said Corbett.

“However, we are now facing a challenging macroeconomic environment and this change will put the company in a stronger financial position to execute its plans for 2023 and beyond.

In Association with

“We have notified the appropriate government officials and will soon enter into a consultation period for roles at risk of redundancy this month.

“We are providing transition and benefits packages with the goal of making the transition as supportive as possible for impacted teammates.”

In September Wayflyer announced a $250m funding line with Credit Suisse to facilitate expansion into Germany, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands.

In February 2022, just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Wayflyer raised $150m in funding, supposedly valuing the lender at $1.6bn.

Wayflyer joins Twitter, Stripe, Meta and Intercom who are reducing their workforce in Ireland.

Photo: Wayflyer founders Aidan Corbett (left) and Jack Pierse