Pebble CEO, Eric Migicovsky, has announced that the company will be laying off 40 workers or roughly 25% of the entire workforce this week. The cut was announced in an interview with Tech Insider. The layoff has been blamed on money being "tight these days" in Silicon Valley among venture capitalists (VCs).
"We"ve definitely been careful this year as we plan our products," Migicovsky said to Tech Insider. "We got this money, but money [among VCs in Silicon Valley] is pretty tight these days." On the theme of being careful, Migicovsky went on to say "We want to be careful ... Pebble is in this for the long haul. We have a vision where wearables will take us in five to 10 years, and this is setting us up for success."
Despite the layoffs, Pebble is not out of the smartwatch game yet. Migicovsky revealed that his company has raised $26 million in the past eight months. Additionally, the smartwatch maker raised $20 million in a Kickstarter campaign which began last February.
Going forward, Pebble will have Fitbit in its sights. Migicovsky told Tech Insider that it would now focus mainly on health and fitness as this is what most users are interested in. Pebble devices will also be made available for sale in India next month through a partnership with Amazon.
The state of wearables is not good. Fitbit has seen its stock fall drastically in recent months, and Apple on Monday dropped the price of the Apple Watch by $50 to $299; this could be a sign that the Apple Watch is a difficult sell.
We"ll know whether Pebble manages to turn its fortunes around in the next few months.
Source: Tech Insider via Ars Technica | Image via Kickstarter