Spotahome Tells Staff That It Expects Another Round of Layoffs

Madrid-based on-demand rentals specialist Spotahome has announced it will go through another round of layoffs, weeks after firing two senior managers.

Citing a need for profitability to impress investors amid difficult market conditions, a source inside the company said that a consultation period began this Monday, with Spotahome leadership saying that it "didn't know" how many roles would be affected.

However, it is thought that Spotahome will be obliged to cut at least 10% of its staff if it wants to comply with the "collective dismissal" mandate and trigger a government contribution towards redundancy costs.

Staff will now negotiate compensation packages with Spotahome through an internal representative before an official announcement.

The source did however confirm that Spotahome will continue to operate in international markets for now, with the company currently active in around 100 major cities, most of them in Europe.

The expected layoffs come less than a year after Spotahome closed a €25m funding round and announced its first profitability since the coronavirus pandemic, during which time the firm had to cut 80% of its costs.

Spotahome operates a medium- and long-term renting platform that lets tenants search for, view and book a rental property 100% online. Founded in 2014 by Alejandro Artacho, Brian McEire, Bruno Bianchi and Hugo Monteiro, the company has raised nearly $100m in investment from the likes of Kleiner Perkin and was the first Spanish-founded startup to get investment from Silicon Valley in 2018.

However, the company has suffered the ignominy of multiple rounds of layoffs dating back to before the pandemic, with CEO Alejandro Artacho on the record as saying that a number of high-profile hires in 2018-2019 hadn't worked out.