The Coronavirus pandemic has been hitting start-ups especially hard, from small companies to high-profile giants. As the New York Times reports, over 50 start-ups have cut or furloughed around 6,000 employees, as plans for initial public offerings remain on hold and funding wanes for young tech companies. Of those start-ups, the ones that rely on public gatherings are distinctly vulnerable.
ClassPass ($PRIVATE:CLASSPASS) promises members access to a variety of fitness classes for a flat monthly rate. In just ten days, as gyms and studios closed, the company lost over 95% of its revenue. Today, the start-up furloughed 53% of employees. A ClassPass spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo Finance that “53% of ClassPass employees were impacted — 22% of our team has been laid off and 31% of our team has been furloughed, with the hope that we will be able to bring them back.”
While there are still job listings up, the company has halted hiring efforts. The listings have been cut 14% since the beginning of last month. ClassPass’ Facebook mentions have gone down 87% since early March but peaked around the 16th when the company urged subscribers to pause their memberships. ClassPass has since cut spending and launched a virtual workout streaming service.
We saw another peak in February, as complaints from ClassPass’s partnered studios came to light. Some businesses announced that they were parting ways with the platform, which drives per-student fees lower than what many studio owners see as sustainable. If ClassPass is still around post-pandemic, the company will have to make some big changes.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.