Breaking: Chipper Cash cuts US and UK-based roles after suspending US operations

One week after suspending its services in America, Chipper Cash will eliminate roles based in the UK and US to its other African business regions, according to a company blog post published on Friday. Twenty people were laid off as a result of that decision, the same post said.

The decision affected at least two executives, people familiar with the matter said.

“Our core focus has always been our African markets, where as you know, we have some of the largest consumer products on the market,” Ham Serunjogi told TechCabal via email. “Additionally, with regards to our US operations, we will continue to offer our product as we did in the past and I expect those services to resume soon,” he added.

The fintech company, backed by Jeff Bezos’s Bezos expedition, laid off 15 people and slashed salaries by 25% for its UK and US employees in December 2023 but insisted its business was “doing very well.”

While Chipper told US customers to withdraw their funds urgently, Serunjogi told The Information the suspension had a “very small impact on very few people, relatively speaking.”

“But for context, the US has never been a focus for us – we have offered that product there as an extension of our African services” Serunjogi told TechCabal.

In the past year, four rounds of layoffs at the company have affected several high-profile executives, including Alicia Levine, the Chief Operating Officer and Leon Kiptum, its country director for Kenya.

Chipper Cash had previously cut the salaries of its U.S. and U.K. staff by 25% but allowed them to work four days per week.

Before suspending its U.S. operations, Chipper Cash told customers to withdraw funds from their Chipper wallets.

Once valued at over $2 billion, Chipper Cash has faced challenges in the last two years as the global economy slowed and venture capital funding dried up.

Despite raising $300 million between 2019 and 2021 from investors like Deciens Capital, Ribbit Group, FTX, and Silver Valley Bank, the company began experiencing financial losses. One source mentioned that its monthly burn rate gradually grew to $7 million per month, possibly peaking in May 2021 after the Series C funding round.

*This is a developing story

*Correction: The headline has been edited to reflect that Chipper will respond to comments.