Financial software startup was valued by investors at $7.4 billion.
(Bloomberg) — Carta Inc., a financial software company valued at $7.4 billion in August 2021, told employees on Wednesday it was cutting about 10% of the workforce.
The job cuts, earlier reported by TechCrunch, are more evidence of the chill that has set in for even the best-funded tech startups. Carta raised $500 million in equity last year, bringing its total fundraising haul to more than $1 billion.
Carta makes software to manage equity stakes in private companies, and has been backed by firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Silver Lake. Prominent venture capitalist Marc Andreessen sits on the company’s board.
The company recently sued its former Chief Technology Officer Jerry Talton, claiming that Talton misused his corporate credit card for personal matters, recorded other Carta executives without their consent and sent and received sexually explicit and “harassing messages with at least nine women” on Carta’s systems. Talton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2020, the company was sued by Ellen Kramer, a former Carta staffer, who alleged that the company paid her less than her male peers and subjected her to other forms of gender discrimination.
In Carta’s email to employees, Chief Executive Officer Henry Ward cited broader economic problems for the industry and said the company had been looking at ways to reduce spending on expenses like travel and marketing. “Unfortunately we could not bring down our costs enough without looking at our biggest cost, which is headcount,” Ward wrote.
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