Rapid continues downsizing efforts, lays off additional 70 workers

SAN FRANCISCO: The US-based startup Rapid (previously known as RapidAPI), which built out an API (Application Programming Interface) marketplace, has laid off another 70 employees less than two weeks after letting go of 50 per cent of its staff, the media reported.

According to TechCrunch, citing sources, only 42 people remain at the company, down from 230 in April, representing an 82 per cent decrease in headcount.

The latest round affected all of the company's remaining employees in Europe, as well as some in the US.

Moreover, the report said that the layoffs were "rushed and messy", with "no support being offered" and, in some cases, incorrect terminations issued before being rescinded.

In November last year, RapidAPI announced it had rebranded to Rapid and that more than four million developers used its public API hub.

Rapid was founded in 2015 by then-17-year-old Iddo Gino to help businesses find and integrate third-party APIs and manage their internal API usage.

Meanwhile, e-commerce platform Shopify has announced to lay off 20 per cent of its workforce which will impact more than 2,000 people.

The company also announced that the American multinational corporation Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics.

"Shopify will be smaller by about 20 per cent and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics; this means some of you will leave Shopify today. I recognise the crushing impact this decision has on some of you, and did not make this decision lightly," said the company's CEO Tobi Lutke.