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Loop , the car indemnity companionship co - set up byHarlem Capitalco - founderJohn Henry , has put down off staff as the caller scramble with fundraising .
Henry took to Instagram to send the electronic mail his co - founder Carey Nadeau sent to bear upon faculty on June 16th . Nadeu also posted theletter to LinkedIn . It put forward that this was the “ absolute last resort ” for the company after it had been unsuccessful in promote additional cap after 20 months of attempt . “ Our last opportunity , ” Nadeau wrote , “ had an investor pull out at the very final time of day , and we just fell poor . ”
A post shared by John Henry ( @johnhenrystyle )
The email continue , saying the company decided to reduce its head count as it seeks to function through its fiscal difficulties . It ’s unclear how many masses were bear upon . However , agree toa LinkedIn postby a former employee , the cuts bear on people who were insurance agent , as well as people in customer care , data analytics , merchandising , package engineering and product .
Henry did not immediately react to our petition for comment .
Henry co - founded Loop with Nadeau in 2020 shortly after stepping down from his role as a venture partner at his firm Harlem Capital , according to his LinkedIn visibility . As TechCrunchpreviously reported , Loop seek to serve as an alternative insurance model for pricing insurance that did n’t rely as heavily on structurally bias system of measurement like recognition scores and Department of Education used by bequest model .
The caller found out of stealth mode in 2021 , bring up a $ 3.25 million seed led by Freestyle VC , with participation from Backstage Capital and Uprising Ventures . Loop then went on to raise a $ 21 million Series A , the ship’s company said , led by Foundry Group and 01A ( former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and COO Adam Bain ’s investment firm ) . In 2023 it raise an $ 8 million extension bout , according to PitchBook .
Loop ’s fundraising trouble are not unequalled to Black - founded companies . TechCrunch report last year that bootleg founders raisedless than 1%of all venture capital financing , a number that has continue to dwindle down as the promises to back more Black father made after the murder of George Floyd have diminished in recent years . 2024 continues to be a difficult fundraising year across the board . Outside of select orbit , like AI , 2024 has seen some of the slowest financing rate since 2018,Crunchbase report .
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In his Instagram post , Henry write that the position was “ unexpected , ” but the company was going to function through it . Other Black founders rushed to empathize and give tongue to their support for Loop on Instagram .
“ It ’s tough out here right now , ” Melissa Butler , founder ofThe Lip Bar , wrote . “ give thanks you for sharing your journey with us . ”
