California headquartered insurtech Next Insurance plans to cut 17% of its workforce, according to a message sent to employees by Next CEO and co-founder Guy Goldstein on Thursday.
The business is estimated to have a headcount of around 800, meaning roughly 150 jobs are expected to be lost as a result of cuts.
Next has offices in the US and Israel, with staff members in both countries potentially affected.
Goldstein named worsening economic conditions, a shift towards priotizing profitability, and cost management drivers as factors that led to the move to trim the insurtech’s team.
“This is one of the hardest decisions I have made in my professional life and one I take very seriously,” Goldstein said in the message to employees, which has also been shared on the business’s website.
“As difficult as this is, it is my responsibility to adjust our priorities in light of the new reality of market conditions and to accelerate Next’s goals to become profitable,” the CEO said.
“I believe these changes will ultimately preserve our position of leadership in the market and more importantly will allow us to fulfill our mission to help entrepreneurs thrive.”
Next was founded in 2016 and launched the following year, offering insurance cover for small businesses.
The insurtech has raised $881 million in funding, according to Crunchbase, including three $250 million rounds. In April 2021, when it completed its most recent raise, unicorn Next was valued at $4 billion.
Its backers include Munich Re Ventures and Google owner Alphabet’s private equity business CapitalG.
The downsizing at Next follows hot on the heels of cuts at Texas based life insurance insurtech Bestow, which laid off around 14% of its workforce – or 41 employees – in June.
Bestow co-founder and CEO Melbourne O’Banion blamed “changing market conditions” for the move, The Dallas Morning News reported.
