Zencity (press release)
Zencity, an Israeli startup that offers a community insights and analytics platform for state and local governments, is the latest Startup Nation to be forced to make cutbacks. The company has laid off off 20% of its workforce, or 30 people.
A number of Startup Nation firms has been forced to make cutback recently. The Zencity announcement comes after two Israeli unicorns were also forced to fire people so far in the month of July, Lightricks and Next Insurance. This trend is largely attributed to the current global inflation crisis and the steps being taken to curb it. The U.S. and Israel have both raised interest rates. That move means there will be less money for future investments so companies of all kinds are contracting, if only temporarily.
In explaining the move, Zencity CEO Eyal Feder-Levy released a statement describing the move as painful. “We are conducting an organizational change and are parting ways with truly excellent people. This is very painful on a human level, but it is the responsible thing to do for the betterment of our clients and mission,” he said.
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“We have built something extraordinary at Zencity over the past five years,” added Feder-Levy. “We are a company that is growing rapidly and have also scaled significantly, and are effecting on a daily basis hundreds of cities across the world while increasing the trust between local municipalities and the residents they serve.”
He went on to explain that Zencity had recently seen its workforce grow considerably because of certain market assumptions that the company made. “The situation in the markets has changed and that requires us to act accordingly and I take responsibility for that,” he said.
The Zencity CEO also explained to his people that the company must “remain first and foremost committed to our clients and to the residents they serve. Despite parting ways, our commitment to the employees continues to be deep and we will do everything we can to help them move to their next role easily and safely. I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their great contribution to our success and to the local municipalities we support.”
number of companies coming out Israel Startup Nation that have either been forced to make cutbacks recently or scrapped plans for an IPO. This trend is largely attributed to the current global inflation crisis and the steps being taken to curb it. The U.S. and Israel have both raised interest rates. That move means there will be less money for future investments so companies of all kinds are contracting, if only temporarily.
Founded in 2015 by CEO Eyal Feder-Levy and CTO Ido Ivry, Zencity boasts that it uses AI and big data to reinvent the way local governments make decisions. The company says that its platform helps cities understand their residents’ real needs and priorities, “eliminating the guesswork from policymaking.”
A cross-channel platform, Zencity says that their solutions take civic engagement to the next level by ensuring that local governments can easily hear from and understand all of their community members’ real-time needs and priorities.
The Zencity platform gathers and analyzes millions of feedback points from the online and offline touchpoints that residents have with their city. Then, using advanced AI and machine learning, the company says that it distills” reliable, actionable insights from this data. Local governments use Zencity’s insights to better prioritize resources, track performance more effectively, and – perhaps most importantly – connect more deeply with their communities.”
