Anthemis Group revealed to TechCrunch that it completed restructuring early this year, which resulted in the layoff of 16 individuals, or around 28% of its workforce.
Anthemis, located in London, said the move was made in order “to better reflect current market conditions and to set up the business for future growth” in line with its “strategic priorities.”
The firm declined to say which roles were affected by the restructuring, but an anonymous source said Farhan Lalji, a former managing director of the firm, was among those laid off, along with early-stage investor Swarnali Mitra and an individual who served as both a content and editorial manager.
TechCrunch attempted to contact all three workers but received no response. Their LinkedIn accounts, however, show that they are no longer with Anthemis as of January and February of this year.
Anthemis says it has made two new recruits since the layoffs — an investment partner and a head of intellectual capital — and now has a staff of 44 workers spread across Europe and North America. Jillian Williams quit her position as investment principal at Anthemis in April 2021 to become a partner at Cowboy Ventures. She first joined Anthemis in July 2016 and assisted in the establishment of the company’s US branch in New York.
Anthemis, which was founded in 2010, now manages $1.5 billion in assets.
The company revealed in late 2021 that it had raised $700 million in new funds in what a spokeswoman described as a collection of capital” it closed “across strategies” from its venture studio to its venture growth fund.
“Our focus, more than ever, is on deploying financial, intellectual, and human capital in service of financial system improvement and reinvention,” a spokeswoman said earlier this month. “And I will say that strategy is still evolving.” She stated that Anthemis is still dedicated to supporting diverse entrepreneurs and that it will “explore complementary products” inside its asset management business.
This isn’t the first time a venture capital firm has laid off employees in recent years.
Anthemis declined to share any details on its future strategy, instead directing me to this blog post by co-founder Amy Nauiokas. Nauiokas says in the piece that the firm’s goal is to translate 2022’s reckoning in private markets into enduring change in the structure and method of early-stage investing.
This is not the first time the company’s management has been restructured. In 2018, the company made headlines after its then-CEO and co-founder Nadeem Shaikh resigned after being accused of sexual harassment by a female employee.
