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Australian IT company Megaport sacks 10 per cent of staff, pays them $1.6m

Australian IT company Megaport sacks 10 per cent of staff, pays them $1.6m

An Australian tech company sacked around 10 per cent of its staff despite announcing its revenue had jumped by 40 per cent to $109.7 million in the past financial year.

The Brisbane-based telecommunications and IT infrastructure company called Megaport revealed that a whopping $1.6 million was spent paying out employees who had been made redundant.

Around 35 staff members – out of its 345 estimated workforce on LinkedIn – were impacted by the cuts.

“On July 14 2022, management made the decision to reduce its workforce in order to reduce costs and prepare for rising prices and inflation across the group’s key markets,” Megaport revealed in its report to investors.

Its revenue had grown from $78.3 million from the previous financial year, its results showed, while its monthly recurring revenue soared by 43 per cent to $10.7 million in June, mainly as a result of new customers from the US.

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The 10-year-old company, which was founded by multi-millionaire Bevan Slattery, is one of the many Aussie tech outfits that have suffered from a battering on the share market this year.

Its shares have plummeted by 53 per cent since the start of the year, but its results reported on Tuesday helped its stock rise by 9 per cent defying the broader trend of investors selling off loss making tech shares.

Megaport reported a full year net loss of $48.5 million down from $55 million the year earlier, while it increased customers from 2,285 to 2,643.

It currently has $82.5 million in cash, according to its report.

tech bloodbath

Aussie employees from the tech sector have suffered a brutal round of cuts in recent times, with Megaport’s staff the latest casualties.

An Australian social media start-up called Linktree that was recently valued at $1.78 billion is sacking 17 per cent of staff from its global operations, it revealed this week.

Immutable, an Australian crypto company valued at $3.5 billion was facing a fierce backlash last week after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.

Australian healthcare start-up Eucalptys that provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.

Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.

Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.

Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.

Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business

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Australian social media company Linktree sacks 17 per cent of staff

Australian social media company Linktree sacks 17 per cent of staff

An Australian social media start-up that was recently valued at $1.78 billion is sacking 17 per cent of staff from its global operations.

The company, whose main offices in Australia are based in Sydney and Melbourne, said it has 25 million users and is one of the top 300 most popular websites globally with 1.2 billion monthly views.

Yet, his co-founder and chief executive Alex Zaccaria, revealed on LinkedIn that he was “heartbroken” to announce that staff would be axed.

The news came despite the company, which has been backed by billionaire Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar, raising $US110 million ($A1578 million) in March.

It also announced a brand transformation in June and revealed plans for a whole suite of new tools and features set to be released over the coming months.

The company is believed to have around 300 employees, with the 17 per cent figure equating to around 50 staff that will be sacked, with roles impacted understood to cover talent acquisition, people and culture, design and marketing.

Mr Zaccaria said he had shared the “difficult news” with staff about the cuts, which were being made to “emerge stronger from the economic downturn”.

“Our people have built Linktree into what it is today: trusted by millions of people around the world. I’m heartbroken to say goodbye to some incredible teammates today, and want to do all I can to support them,” he said.

“On Friday, we will post a public, opt-in Airtable for those of our team impacted and ask you to please consider this group of incredibly talented and passionate people for roles you have open. I can assure you they will make huge contributions wherever they land.

“If you’d like to speak to me personally about any individual, my DM’s are open.”

The cuts come after the company introduced a $6000 reward annually to staff just six months ago, with the perk described as “mind-blowing” by employees at the time.

Linktree started off as a way for influencers to link to everything from their outfits, blog posts, podcast episodes and social media, but has evolved into a platform that enables brands, artists and businesses to monetize their content through social media.

Its high-profile users feature Selena Gomez and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as well as brands such as TikTok and Red Bull.

Mr Zaccaria also revealed that the company had made some “big bets” and hired in line with its ambitions, but economic conditions had changed in 2022 forcing the company to make the cuts.

“Conditions changed faster than expected and those assumptions I made were wrong,” he said. “I have many learnings to take into the next phase of building Linktree. That next phase involves narrowing our focus on our long-term strategy by reducing roles that are no longer aligned with our road map.”

In a further letter to Linktree staff, Mr Zaccaria said he would be hosting a weekly ‘Ask Me Anything’ session to staff for the next four weeks.

“Friday will be a company-wide mental health day at Linktree. For a company like ours, so focused on culture and camaraderie, this will be difficult news,” he said.

“I don’t expect anyone to be their normal selves. We will also be allocating you an additional mental health day that you can take at a time that suits you.

“The opportunity for Linktree is immense and I have no doubt we’ll achieve everything we intend to and more for our creators.

“The right path is rarely the easy path. Today’s change to our team is the hard way, but it puts us in a strong position to deliver on the opportunity we have in front of us.”

Staff that have been made redundant will receive an average of 11 weeks pay, mental health support for three months and laptops and work from home equipment will be gifted.

The company is still actively recruiting for roles on LinkedIn including product managers, integrated marketing managers and engineers, with 16 jobs currently advertised.

Tech sector bloodbath

Linktree’s staff are the latest casualties in the tech sector, which has seen a spate of companies firing staff as conditions get tougher.

Immutable, an Australian crypto company valued at $3.5 billion was facing a fierce backlash last week after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.

Australian healthcare start-up Eucalptys that provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.

Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.

Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.

Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.

Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business

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Australian house prices: 300 suburbs that have significantly dropped in value

Australian house prices: 300 suburbs that have significantly dropped in value

As skyrocketing interest rates smash the Australian housing market, a dozen suburbs have already seen property prices fall by more than $500,000 since March.

PropTrack’s automated valuation model (AVM) data show more than 300 suburbs across the country where dwelling values ​​have experienced six-figure falls over the quarter.

In percentage terms, the worst-performing suburb in the country was South Hedland in WA’s Pilbara region, where units dropped by 24.81 per cent to a median value of $213,791 in June 2022 – a loss of more than $70,000.

That was closely followed by Booval in Queensland, where unit prices were down 24.64 per cent, or more than $121,000, to $370,231.

But it was wealthy suburbs in the capital cities that experienced the largest falls in dollar terms, with parts of Sydney’s northern beaches and eastern suburbs, Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, as well as inner-city Perth and Canberra all experiencing falls in excess of half a million dollars.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s eastern suburbs home of Point Piper recorded the biggest fall in dollar terms, with units there losing nearly $715,000 in value – a 14.82 per cent fall from $4.82 million to $4.11 million.

Manly came in second place with losses of nearly $680,000 in house prices, representing a 13.8 per cent fall from $4.92 million to $4.25 million.

Ingleside on Sydney’s northern beaches saw house prices fall nearly $610,000 to $2.77 million, while Flinders in Melbourne suffered a $600,000 fall to $2.51 million.

Other suburbs where house prices fell by more than $500,000 include Clontarf, Dover Heights, North Bondi, Bronte, Rose Bay and Bondi Beach in Sydney, Peppermint Grove in Perth and Griffith in Canberra.

Close behind in the $400,000 range were the likes of Double Bay and Tamarama in Sydney, Red Hill – both in Victoria and Canberra – and Mulgoa at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

“Price falls are largely being led by the ‘high end’ of the market and higher value suburbs,” said PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh.

“Manly and Tamarama in Sydney have all posted declines in quarterly values.

“Previously popular suburbs in the Central Coast and Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula have also seen values ​​decline.

“It’s often the case that the upper end of the market experiences larger price declines, and at the moment it’s the suburbs that are home to more expensive properties that are seeing bigger price falls than more affordable properties.”

It’s not all bad news for homeowners, however.

House prices in some suburbs are still rising, led by Balmain East in Sydney’s inner west, which saw house prices rise more than $329,000 over the quarter to $3.48 million.

New Farm in Brisbane was second with house price growth of more than $295,000 to $2.65 million, followed by Coledale in NSW’s Illawarra region, which was up nearly $289,000 to $2.47 million.

Other suburbs where dwelling values ​​rose more than $200,000 were Newcastle East, The Rocks and Waterloo in Sydney, and Brisbane’s Bowen Hills, Tenerife, Highgate Hill and West End.

“While the current cycle of exceptional price growth is winding down Australia-wide, there are some parts of the country bucking the falling price trend,” said Ms Creagh.

“Parts of Brisbane, Adelaide and regional Australia are proving more resilient.

“With the pandemic driving a boom in remote working, housing markets in parts of regional Australia have emerged, with sea and tree changers looking for lifestyle locations, larger homes, and beachside living.”

The ongoing low supply of properties available for sale, combined with relative affordability advantages driving heightened demand, are causing prices to continue to rise in some regional areas or only just beginning to fail as the impact of higher interest rates weighs on the market.

“As the home price cycle has matured and interest rates are now rising, some suburbs in previous regional hot spots on the Sunshine Coast, and in the Southern Highlands and Geelong regions are starting to see larger price falls, with affordability advantages having been eroded since the pandemic onset,” Ms Creagh said.

“Suburbs like Lorne, Sunshine Beach, Minyama and Noosa Heads have all seen quarterly declines in unit or house values.”

She added it was a similar picture in the capital cities, with markets that led the upswing like the “lifestyle and coastal locations of the northern beaches and eastern suburbs now seeing larger price falls”.

It comes after the Reserve Bank hiked interest rates for the fourth month in a row on Tuesday.

The 50 basis-point increase at the central bank’s August meeting brings the official cash rate to 1.85 per cent, up from the record low 0.1 per cent it was up until May.

Governor Philip Lowe said the RBA had made the decision to raise the rates in a bid to drive down the current 6.1 per cent inflation figure.

In a statement, he said the path to returning to inflation under 3 per cent while keeping the economy on an even keel was something that would take time.

“The path to achieve this is a narrow one and clouded in uncertainty, not least because of global developments,” Dr Lowe said.

“The outlook for global economic growth has been downgraded due to pressures on real incomes from higher inflation, the tightening of monetary policy in most countries, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the Covid containment measures in China. Today’s increase … is a further step in the normalization of monetary conditions in Australia.”

Already, the rise in interest rates has pushed house prices down in most major cities as borrowers stare down the barrel of higher monthly payments.

PropTrack’s Home Price Index shows a national decline of 1.66 per cent in prices since March, but some regions have seen much sharper falls.

“As repayments become more expensive with rising interest rates, housing affordability will decline, prices pushing further down,” Ms Creagh said earlier this week.

Last week, the Australia Institute’s chief economist, Richard Dennis, told NCA NewsWire the RBA was one of the biggest threats to the economy at the moment.

“If we keep increasing interest rates because inflation is higher than we’d like, we might cause a recession,” he said.

“Increasing interest rates won’t help us prepare for a slowing global economy … but they might actually further dampen the Australian economy.”

[email protected]

– with NCA NewsWire

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Simple way to fix Australia’s east coast energy crisis

Simple way to fix Australia's east coast energy crisis

Slowly but surely, the story of the greatest rip-off in Aussie history is coming out. It’s not a great train robbery. Not a Sydney wealth management fraud. It is an investment boom that miraculously turned east Australian resources bounty into a pair of concrete boots for the broader economy.

This is the sorry tale of how foreign cartels stole Australian gas reserves and fed them to China while the local economy was starved of it.

It began during the GFC-period when advances in unconventional gas extraction (fracking, shale, coal seam etc) made huge reserves in Queensland viable for extraction. Three conglomerates of largely multinational firms built infrastructure systems across the east of the state to extract, pipe and freeze that gas for export.

They spent some $80 billion doing so, in a mad race that duplicated everything, over-invested in production and crashed the global gas price, forcing them to write off tens of billions on their investment.

Meanwhile, in poor little Australia, which actually owned the gas, the moment the export trains opened the price began to rise because there was not enough left over for locals.

The price rose from $4Gj relentlessly until we were paying $20Gj in 2017 – more for our own gas than our Asian customers.

Worse, because gas sets the marginal cost of electricity on the east coast, whenever its cost rises, power prices go mad as well, hugely multiplying the negative impacts on the economy.

The Turnbull government recognized the folly of this in 2017 and installed the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM). That crashed the gas price back under $10Gj, though it remained much higher than it had been traditionally.

But that was not the end of it. Whenever there has been cold weather, or coal or other outages in the power market, or international shortages, the gas cartel has popped up again to squeeze local prices higher.

This serial debacle most recently came to a head with the war in Ukraine and Russian sanctions which have left the world short of gas and Australian prices have gone to as high as $65Gj, the market has been suspended and electricity prices have been driven up by 600 per cent to boot.

This is a $50 billion gouge by the energy cartels that are effectively war-profiteering at every Australian’s expense. Soon, these price rises will deliver an extra 6 per cent CPI inflation, ensuring the RBA has to drive interest rates higher than many households can bear.

And for what? The gas cartel will not invest anymore. There’ll be no jobs created. Governments will receive no tax dividend owing to broken laws and the massive writedowns on the projects.

Indeed, this episode will be recounted by economic historians as the worst case of the “resources curse” ever. (It’s sometimes called Dutch Disease after the Netherlands’ broader economy suffered in the ’70s with the development of North Sea oil resources that lifted its currency and falling competitiveness hollowed out the industry.)

If Dutch Disease is a national cold, then Australian Disease is like an inoperable brain tumour. It has allowed miners to steal the resource, pay no tax, force scarcity pricing on the extractive nation, and raise the currency. All of which have already decimated industry, hobbled national income, and will soon begin to deflate household wealth as well.

how to fix it

The new Labor Government has been forced to confront this reality to some extent. Untenable energy prices have triggered a review of the Turnbull domestic reservation mechanism. This is all to the good, but what should it look like?

First, the reformed ADGSM must include a price trigger. As it stands, it is a volume measure that is too unwieldy to be effective. The ADGSM should automatically divert gas from export the moment the price goes over $7Gj. This is plenty high enough for the gas cartel to make money out of it. The reserves are quite cheap and since they’ve written off so much investment, the gas has become even cheaper on a cash basis.

The new ADGSM should apply to all three conglomerates. Although it is the Santos-led GLNG that has come to be most short of gas and openly lied about it, all three joint ventures knew what they were doing when they overinvested to leave Australia short of gas. Besides, as Bass Strait gas bleeds out, the shortage will only get worse and the future will require as much as 15 per cent of the gas currently exported to remain at home. That’s a burden best shared by all three projects.

A second option is to use export levies. If we set a baseline for profits at pre-Ukraine war prices around $7Gj, then levy the gas cartel for every export dollar above that price, then the local price of gas would collapse and Australians collect the war windfall instead of firms that have no right to it.

Third, we could install a super-profits tax on the cartel and recycle that revenue as energy subsidies for everybody else. That is a pretty clunky solution but it delivers the same end.

With any and all of these solutions, the cartel will scream “sovereign risk”. But so what? It was its mistakes that created this untenable situation. Australians should not have to pay for them.

Moreover, export gas contracts are renegotiated all the time. Just a few weeks ago, one member of the gas cartel, Shell, declared force majeur (that is undelivered but contracted gas) over something as trivial as a maritime labor dispute.

The larger truth is that the cartel is a risk to the sovereign and everyone within it.

Read related topics:Cost Of Living

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Online brokerage company Robinhood lays off almost a quarter of its staff

Online brokerage company Robinhood lays off almost a quarter of its staff

A US online trading platform, which experienced a boom in customers during the pandemic, has slashed its staff by 23 per cent after being hit by the cryptocurrency market crash and record inflation.

It’s the second round of staff sackings for the company called Robinhood, which laid off 9 per cent of its 3,900 employees in April.

Yesterday’s announcement saw the company shed 23 per cent of remaining positions — about 815 jobs — meaning the company will have sacked more than 1000 employees in a matter of months between the two rounds of redundancies. Roles in operations, marketing and program management the most impacted by yesterday’s decision.

Robinhood was embroiled in the Gamestop controversy early last year when Reddit renegades and amateur investors blew up the share price of the brick-and-mortar video game retailers, but this momentum has failed to continue.

Robinhood’s chief executive Vlad Tenev said that letting go of 9 per cent the workforce in April to focus on “greater cost discipline” for the organization “did not go far enough” in a blog post on the company’s website.

“Since that time, we have seen additional deterioration of the macro environment, with inflation at 40-year highs accompanied by a broad crypto market crash. This has further reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody,” Mr Tenev said.

“Last year, we staffed many of our operations functions under the assumption that the heightened retail engagement we had been seeing with the stock and crypto markets in the Covid era would persist into 2022.

“In this new environment, we are operating with more staffing than appropriate. As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory – this is on me.”

Last year, Robinhood grew from 700 roles at the end of 2019 to nearly 3,900 by the first half of 2021, but its 2,022 cuts take its total workforce down to 2,600.

Mr Tenev said staff would receive an email and Slack message with their employment status after the company wide meeting announced the redundancies on Tuesday.

He added the cuts were a “painful decision” and meant the company would be “parting ways with many incredibly talented people”, although staff would be given the opportunity to remain with the company until October 1.

Robinhood also revealed its second quarter results which showed its monthly active years plunged to 14 million down by 34 per cent from a year earlier.

Revenue also plummeted by a whopping 44 per cent to $US318 million ($A461 million).

Robinhood became a trading phenomenon during the pandemic as it offered an easy to use, mobile first platform and in the second quarter of last year it boasted more than 21 million active users who were keen to trade crypto and meme stocks.

But with lockdowns in the past, revenue tied to customer’s trading dropped 55 per cent in the latest quarter to $US202 million ($A292 million).

The company has also been slugged with a $US30 million ($A43 million) fine from the New York State Department of Financial Service for alleged violations of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulation in its cryptocurrency trading unit.

A global tech bloodbath has seen a spate of companies laying off staff.

In Australia a crypto company called Immutable, which valued at $3.5 billion, is facing a fierce backlash after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.

Meanwhile, Australia healthcare start-up Eucalyptus, which provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.

Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.

Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.

Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.

Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business

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Australian crypto platform Immutable sacks 17% of staff despite plans to ‘hire aggressively’

Australian crypto platform Immutable sacks 17% of staff despite plans to 'hire aggressively'

An Australian crypto company valued at $3.5 billion is facing a fierce backlash after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.

The crypto platform, which is an Australian unicorn called Immutable, could be hit with legal action as the union questioned the validity of the redundancies.

The union called Games Workers Australia has disputed the number of staff members that were fired claiming it was at least 30 roles, while Immutable has insisted just 18 workers were let go.

The staff came from the company’s flagship video game Gods Unchained and were advised of the redundancies 24 to 48 hours before being told to leave.

Staff were fired from roles including video effects artists, senior engineers and a marketing director and the process involved a 30-minute company wide meeting last Monday.

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‘devastating news’

Game Workers Australia, a branch of Professionals Australia, said it is supporting staff from Immutable Games Studio who received the “devastating” news that they would be made redundant.

“Based on information we have received, Game Workers Australia believes there are at least 30, but potentially more, job losses at Immutable,” said Professionals Australia CEO Jill McCabe.

“Immutable has provided varying reasons to their employees as to why the redundancies were necessary.

“While some employees were advised that the reason for their redundancy was due to individual performance metrics, others were advised the cause was due to an organizational restructuring or the non-alignment of their role to business goals.

“While staff were advised that they were able to request information about other roles in the company, their were given the impression that they would not be suitable for these roles.”

However, an Immutable spokesperson said the restructure was a “difficult choice” and was performed to meet business goals, while individual performance was not a reason for any redundancies.

They added individual staff were given the opportunity to respond to the redundancies and most were found unsuitable for redeployment to vacant roles.

Hiring 80 more roles

Concerns have been aired that Immutable is still hiring for similar roles that were made redundant such as product managers and engineers.

An Immutable spokesperson said the restructure impacted 6 per cent of the total number of employees at the company and it continued to “hire aggressively”.

“As we grow, the nature of the expertise the company needs is changing. We needed fewer artists, unity engineers and card designers and are hiring more tokenomics experts, blockchain engineers and crypto product managers,” they said.

“We have established new roles for Gods Unchained which we will be hiring for over the next six months; in total we will be hiring more new roles into Gods Unchained than were made redundant.

“Immutable is growing from 280 employees today to over 360 by the end of the year.”

The company started the year with just 120 employees and has already more than doubled, they added.

Game Workers Australia also claimed that Immutable provided no opportunity for employees to respond to the company’s intention to make them redundant and most of the redundancies were advised and executed within 24 to 48 hours.

“Sadly, the experience of game workers at Immutable is emblematic of the broader problems across Australia’s growing $3 billion games sector,” Ms McCabe said.

“While game workers are highly qualified and skilled, wages are unsustainably low, the hours are long, and unpaid overtime is common.

“Many people burn out of our industry and leave before even making it to five years.”

But the Immutable spokesperson defended its process and said the company “followed a fair and consistent process in relation to the restructure that is in line with legal obligations”.

Earlier this year, Immutable’s founders James, 30, and Robbie Ferguson, 25 were one of 13 new entrants that placed on the Australian Financial Review rich list with an estimated combined wealth of $1.01 billion.

Tech sector bloodbath

Immutable’s staff are the latest casualties in the tech sector, which has seen a spate of companies firing staff as conditions get tougher.

Australian healthcare start-up Eucalptys that provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.

Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.

Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.

Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.

Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business

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