One-click checkout company Bolt confirms another round of layoffs

E-commerce and fintech company Bolt, which was at one time the subject of a federal probe, confirmed it laid off 29% of its staff, according to a company spokesperson.

In an emailed statement, the Bolt spokesperson said the one-click checkout company made the cuts to get Bolt to “an operating model optimized for sustainable growth and efficiency.”

“We made the difficult but important decision to reduce layers and roles across the company — setting ourselves up with the speed and agility required for the next phase of our business,” according to the statement.

This latest round of layoffs, which the spokesperson said happened last week, follow a handful of other layoffs made by the company since 2022. One was in May 2022 when it was reported at least 185 employees, or one-third of its workforce, were let go. Another was earlier this year.

It’s not clear how many employees the company had at the time of the layoffs or which roles were impacted.

The company, which provides software to retailers to speed up checkout, raised around $1 billion in total venture-backed funding and at one time was valued at $11 billion.

In October, CEO Maju Kuruvilla told TechCrunch that Bolt was working toward profitability and had some features, like improving merchandise returns and providing personalized experiences around its universal shopper network, in the pipeline. The company announced partnerships with retailers, including Saks OFF 5TH, Shinola, Filson, Lafayette 148 and Toys “R” Us, in November.