Zumper Slashes 15% of its Staff

Zumper laid off 15% of its 300-strong workforce last Friday, it has emerged.

According to The Real Deal, the well known New York real estate publication, the cuts came amid budget concerns for the online rental startup.

The story emerged after an axed employee reached out to The Real Deal. The source also said the majority of affected jobs came from the sales and customer service departments, with additional cuts to the Arts department.

The Real Deal approached Zumper for a comment but the company could not be reached.

Zumpers layoffs are a continuation of a worrying trend in the US real estate industry—other companies to let staff go recently include Redfin, Compass, Tomo and Better.com.

Adverse market conditions caused by post-pandemic interest rate increases and inflation have forced many real estate companies to cut back on spending.

The Federal Reserve approved the largest interest-rate increase since 1994 this week—an increase of 0.75% to a range between 1.5%-1.75%—and signaled it would continue lifting rates this year at the most rapid pace in decades to fight inflation that is running at a 40-year high.

Zumper was founded in 2012 and has raised $179m in capital since inception, including a $60m Series D led by e.ventures in 2020, according to Crunchbase.