Luno adjusts size of team to navigate the current crypto winter

This is an extract of the internal message shared with Luno employees today: 

Hi Lunauts

As mentioned at our January Kick-Off earlier, it is with deep regret that I have to announce that we will be reducing our overall Luno team by 35%, impacting Lunauts in all of our regions. 

2022 has been an incredibly tough year for the broader tech industry and in particular the crypto market. Luno unfortunately hasn’t been immune to this turbulence, which has affected our overall growth and revenue numbers.

As a result, we have to readjust our focus to maintaining our leadership position in our core markets, and continue to lay a strong yet sustainable foundation for the business as we prepare to come out of this current cycle in a very strong position. 

This decision will affect some of the smartest, kindest and most hard-working people I’ve ever known, who have gone above and beyond to help build our industry, company and amazing culture. As you can imagine it is totally heartbreaking to part with so many incredible people that have contributed so much, and our priority is to handle these departures with the empathy, generosity and gratitude that these Lunauts deserve. 

How did we get here?

As you will be aware, over the past few months a number of unforeseen and very extreme events have impacted our industry. This includes a global economic downturn coupled with an even bigger downturn in the tech sector overall, and on top of that, not just an ‘ordinary’ crypto winter, but a series of shocks including Luna, Three Arrows and FTX that have had an overall compounding effect on our industry. 

This in turn has impacted us indirectly in a number of ways: on the capital side, a significantly more constrained funding environment, with the market’s focus shifting from long term investment to shorter term profitability, and on the operating side, a negative impact on market sentiment and consequently on growth and revenue for our business, along with all of our peers and competitors. 

While we anticipated a downturn and proactively planned ahead with a business and funding model that can be resilient to some of these factors, the sheer scale and

speed of all of this happening, and all at the same time, has put significant strain on our original plan.

What this means in practice is that in addition to streamlining our strategy to focus on our core strengths, we need to also substantially decrease our cost base – which includes employee headcount in all of our markets – in order for us to be  set up for success going forward. 

While none of this impacts our customers or operations, given all the sensitivity and misinformation in the market right now, I believe it’s also important to reiterate to everyone that customer funds are safe and operations continue as normal despite these very challenging circumstances.             

Where to from here? 

I realise that this news might come as a shock to many of you, and I’m truly sorry about putting you all in this position, whether you are being impacted directly or indirectly. We have all been through so much together on this crypto journey, and I want to thank each and every one of you for your contribution so far. 

It’s important to remember that every minute you have spent working on our mission has been an important part of building the infrastructure for the next generation’s financial system. On top of that, you have all worked so hard in building an incredible culture internally, where we are able to find the right balance between ambition and high performance on the one hand, and humility and kindness on the other. 

Whether you are moving on from Luno or staying aboard, we are all still part of the team who did this all together, and it’s something to be incredibly proud of. 

While today is a sad day for everyone, it’s important to remember why we are all here in the first place: The financial system is more broken than ever, and with the increased social and political disturbances we’re seeing across the globe, the need for more sound money and a better financial system is bigger than ever. 

Thanks to those who have helped us get this far, and also to those who will continue to drive forward our critical mission of putting the power of crypto into everyone’s hands.

Marcus