No money in the Till: Sydney start-up lays off 120 staff

Sydney-based Till Payments, once slated as the next unicorn, has laid off 40 per cent of its staff.

Till chief executive Shadi Haddad.

A Sydney-based fintech that was once slated to become the next unicorn has laid off 120 staff under a restructure plan to make the business “sustainable”.

Lay-offs are coming fast this year, with cuts affecting more than 25,000 staff announced at tech titans Amazon and Salesforce last week.

Till Payments will lay off the same number of staff the business had in September 2021 when chief executive Shadi Haddad first outlined a massive growth plans after raising $110m.

“In line with our three-year plan, and in response to pandemic-fuelled activity, we have been overinvesting in expansion and driving phenomenal growth, which I take full responsibility for,” Mr Haddad said.

“Despite our successes, we aren’t immune to the headwinds of the global inflationary pressure and economic contraction. Unfortunately, we have needed to take decisive action to mitigate these headwinds and align our strategy to a more sustainable growth model for the longevity and success of our business.”

The business, formed in 2012, had secured backing from prominent investors and funds amid the pandemic including Akuna Capital, Avenir Growth, Regal Funds Management and Woodson Capital.

Alongside the redundancies, three new board members were announced to lead the restructure. Those appointments include US-based non-executive director Matt Davey, Supabarn managing director Theo Koundouris and Jerry Yohananov who has experience in debt funding and warehousing. The new members join Mr Haddad and Christopher Hicks on the board.

The restructure arrives as Till Payments is in the midst of a $70m raise at a time when capital is far more scarce than it was during the its previous raise.