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When I first joined Tech in Asia, our Singapore office was located in one of the Suntec City office towers. The lift lobbies had these advertising screens, where they were displaying those cringeworthy Cristiano Ronaldo Shopee ads. “They must’ve spent 99% of the marketing budget on him,” was my thought at the time.
Today, the decision-makers at the Southeast Asian unicorn must wish it still had that much loose change lying around. Instead, it’s making “adjustments” to its headcount that will impact its teams in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
This isn’t the company’s first round of cost-cutting measures this year, either. Find out more in today’s premium article.
Today we look at:
- Shopee layoffs hitting its payments and food delivery arms, as well as its Latin America team
- The US$5 million series A funding round of a Singapore-based coffee technology startup
- Other newsy highlights such as AirAsia’s plans to IPO and the US$55 million series B round of an Indonesian fintech firm
Tech in Asia is keeping track of the layoffs happening across Asia’s startup ecosystem. You can help us maintain this list by sending in any information on job cuts and affected employees.
Premium summary
Costly “adjustments”
Image credit: Timmy Loen
The way Shopee CEO Chris Feng uses the word “adjustments” in his email to employees announcing the layoff measures is such an impersonal touch to something that is probably quite devastating to a fair number of affected employees. As a writer, I don’t like it, as it comes off like PR-speak.
At least the company is also saying that it “will do the very best we can to support them through this transition.” Here’s hoping.
- No money, no honey: The headcount changes will affect some roles in the ShopeeFood and ShopeePay teams in Southeast Asia, as well as the ecommerce firm’s operations in Mexico, Argentina, and Chile.
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The company keeps on going: Despite the job cuts, Feng said the respective businesses will continue to operate as usual and that Shopee is “committed to providing the same level of support to our users, partners, and merchants.”
It is indeed a good Morning
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