On Oct. 8, fintech unicorn Stash announced that its cofounders, who started the company in 2015 and had their roles reduced last year, were returning to helm the company they had started.
But there was one important detail left out: Stash was also restructuring, and 40% of its approximately 220-person workforce, including at least three of its executives, were out of a job, according to three people familiar with the matter and confirmed by Stash. It was the second major layoff at Stash this year.
The changes came just weeks after its CEO since 2023, Liza Landsman, abruptly left at the end of September. The board, mostly filled by the company’s venture capital investors, approached cofounders Ed Robinson and Brandon Krieg to run the company as co-CEOs, Robinson tells Fortune.
Robinson had left his operational role, though he remained a board member. Krieg had stepped back to lead business development. Robinson characterized Landsman’s departure as mutual, saying she was neither fired nor did she resign. “Liza did some incredible things for Stash … She wasn’t the right person to go into the next phase,” Robinson said. Two people familiar with the matter said Landsman had resigned. Landsman declined to comment.
At the time of her departure, there had been rumors among employees about a potential acquisition, one former employee recalls. And for good reason: There were two acquisition offers being considered by the board at that time, two people say.
One of those offers was from investment platform eToro for less than Stash’s last valuation of $1.4 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter. The exact offer amount could not be confirmed. “We are actively exploring M&A opportunities globally,” an eToro spokesperson told Fortune, declining to comment on any specifics.
The board ultimately rejected those offers in favor of a funding round, which Robinson says is in the process of closing. The company plans to announce the investment soon.
Robinson declined to share any details of the expected funding round, apart from that it will be used to pay off some of the company’s debt and to spend on growth initiatives. Robinson tells Fortune that Stash frequently gets acquisition offers and estimated that around 80 companies have shown interest in an acquisition in the past six to nine months. He declined to name any specific would-be buyers.
Robinson said the latest restructuring was meant to remove management layers and make Stash “less bureaucratic.” He insisted that Stash hasn’t eliminated any of its products, and that its employees are still working on exactly the same things—just with smaller teams. “We just really wanted to try to remove a lot of the layers and just refocus the company,” he said.
Stash, whose latest $1.4 billion valuation dates back to 2021, operates in a crowded space of tech-powered wealth advising and investment platforms, competing with other companies including Betterment, Acorns, and Robinhood. Stash positions itself as an “investing app for beginners” with a subscription model that provides users with financial advice and manages auto-investing services.
Stash, which is based in New York City but whose staff is largely remote, does not disclose its revenue or other financials.
Stash touts having more than 1.3 million subscribers now, though the figure represents a decline from 2022, when the platform had 2 million. The company has struggled with debt, and conducted a series of layoffs before October, including one in March representing 25% of its workforce, or around 80 people, bringing its headcount to 220 at the time.
The company had 500 employees at its peak, according to an Axios report.
“There was a general sense that there was increased pressure from competitors, so things have to get tighter,” says one former employee.
The October restructuring was not mentioned in the company’s external announcement about its cofounders returning as executives, though two sources say it was the same day the company internally announced its layoffs. A Bloomberg article published the same day about the cofounders’ return also didn’t mention the cuts.
Robinson said the company is not considering further layoffs and achieved monthly positive cash flow in November—the first time in Stash’s 10-year history. He highlighted a new AI investment tool introduced this year and added that Stash is considering adding crypto trading back to its platform, which was discontinued under Landsman.
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