Another wave of layoffs has been enforced by Nigerian genomics business 54gene, located in Washington. This time, around 10 employees — or 25% of its already small workforce — were impacted, according to two persons familiar with the incident. According to our source, the organisation now employs less than 30 individuals across all of its functions.
The new leadership at 54gene is focused on prioritising the business’s core objective and setting the company up for future success, which means some jobs have been redefined or abolished recently, according to 54gene, which confirmed the latest layoffs.
Due to an almost dried-out runway, 54gene started 2022 with over 300 employees, but by the end of the year, its number had shrunk to only 39. This financial crisis resulted in a down round investment that reduced the company’s valuation from $175 million to $50 million and Abasi Ene-departure Obong’s as co-founder and CEO in October. Teresia Bost, the organization’s former general counsel, was appointed temporary CEO by the board of the firm. In an effort to attract more money, the firm said last week that its management will be completely restructured. Bost has transitioned into an advisory position, and San Francisco-based serial entrepreneur Ron Chiarello is now in charge.
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One source claims that the entire marketing, sales, and compliance departments have been disbanded, and that the surviving staff members and contracted outside companies are now filling the vacant positions. The corporation has insisted that its initial area of focus — genomic research — will continue to be its major priority. There are now only six individuals managing this core service, according to a source. In 54gene’s three branches of genomic research — sequencing, biobank, and genotyping — two individuals are employed in each area.
According to a second person acquainted with the firm’s predicament, it is clear that the company needs additional workers in its key areas after the layoffs since “fatigue could push staff to depart without being fired off.” Parts of the company’s statement acknowledged that moving forward, “our recruiting will correspond to our fundamental objective,” so it appears to be aware of this.
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The business asserts that its commitments to the impacted workers were met.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
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