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Scott Shuey · · 2 min readXanPool axes staff amid market turmoil, shuts offices in Singapore, Malaysia
XanPool, a crypto payments platform that raised US$41 million in funding last year, told Tech in Asia that it has laid off “just under 40 people.”
The company did not say how many employees were still on its staff, but its total headcount before the lay-offs is estimated to be fewer than 100 employees.
Xanpool co-founders Jeffery Liu (left) and Artem Ibragimov / Photo credit: XanPool
XanPool offers fiat-gateway software solutions for exchanges, wallets, and other crypto businesses. The company, valued at US$400 million, also confirmed the closure of its offices in Singapore and Malaysia. The crypto firm is headquartered in Hong Kong.
The company said the layoffs were a reaction to the turbulence in global markets over the past few months.
“Funding markets are not what they used to be,” the spokesperson said. “Friendliness towards crypto-fiat gateways is also at all-time lows, and we’re setting ourselves up for the coming years, not months.”
The lack of funding options for startups is a growing problem. Startups pulling capital from banks to pay for operating expenses contributed to the ongoing banking crisis in the US.
When asked why XanPool was cutting staff so soon after announcing its capital raise in November, the spokesperson said the funds were actually raised earlier in 2022 – before market conditions deteriorated.
“The company is and remains liquid,” the spokesperson said. “However, we had to take drastic measures to keep ourselves market-ready for potential future financing.”
In its last fundraising effort, XanPool secured US$35 million from UK-based Target Global, with the remaining US$6 million coming from Antler Elevate.
Future plans
At the time, the company had said it planned to use the new capital to fuel its expansion into Europe, North Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. The company said it would also invest in a new research and development hub in Thailand and move most of its remote staff to the Southeast Asian country.
XanPool confirmed that the job cuts will affect the company’s expansion into Latin America.
Jeffery Liu, CEO of XanPool, founded the company in 2019 alongside Artem Ibragimov, who serves as its CTO. The firm has since grown to have over 2 million users and has partnered with crypto companies such as Binance, Bitcoin.com, and Bybit.
In October 2021, the company raised US$27 million in a series A round led by Valar Ventures.
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XanPool laid off just under 40 employees, saying that “friendliness” toward crypto payment platforms has taken a hit.
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