NFT marketplace SuperRare has announced that it is slashing its employee headcount by 30 percent. The announcement was shared by the company’s CEO, John Crain, via a Slack message which he also shared on Twitter as a screenshot. In the message he shared, the CEO wrote that “During the recent bull run, we grew in tandem with the market. In recent months, it’s become clear that this aggressive growth was unsustainable. We over-hired, and I take full ownership of this mistake.”
https://twitter.com/SuperRareJohn/status/1611434253195313152?s=20&t=DgfsZNGBeb5KLZdGIGvaDQ
SuperRare is ranked one of the biggest NFT marketplaces globally. The NFT marketplace sets itself aside by working closely with the artists on its platform. The company secured a Series A funding of $9 million in March 2021. The round which was led by Velvet Sea Ventures and 1confirmation saw the participation of prominent investors like Ashton Kutcher, Marc Benioff, and Mark Cuban.
“We know that there is still much innovation and transformation yet to come for Web3, NFTs, crypto art, decentralized finance, and governance. We are facing headwinds, yes — but there remains an incredible uncaptured opportunity as we continue building something totally new,” SuperRare’s CEO also added.
The largest NFT marketplace OpenSea has not been immune to the current macroeconomic challenges. Valued at $13 billion, the company recently had to lay off about 20 percent of its staff in July. As of July, OpenSea was left with just 230 employees.
The recent macroeconomic challenges have affected the general business environment with companies like Meta, Klarna, etc., laying off thousands of staff. Amazon recently announced plans to lay off more than 18,000 workers. The cryptocurrency industry may have been the most affected coupled with the recent collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, and the crash in crypto prices. More companies are expected to continue to lay off employees as a way of surviving the tough business environment.