Ukrainian developers who worked for an American tech startup were fired in one day

on March 23, the American company Takeoff Technologies laid off 80 Ukrainians who worked in its staff. This is reported by the technology media DOU, citing the direct speech of the employees who were laid off.

Takeoff Technologies develops software for automating processes in the e-commerce sector. Until recently, in addition to the US office, the company also had development teams in Ukraine and India.

Matthew Barnes, Senior Vice President Of Engineering, announced the reason for the layoffs on the last working call with Ukrainian employees. According to him, the company needs to raise additional funds, and investors believe that Ukraine is a risky region where it is not advisable to invest.

Another reason is that the company has no customers in Europe, so Ukraine is not suitable as a location for further development, in particular because of different time zones. DOU’s sources said that this reason was far-fetched, as there had been no complaints about the Ukrainian team’s performance so far.

One of the dismissed Ukrainians told the media that during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the company made additional payments to Ukrainian specialists, as well as compensated for housing costs and relocation to safe regions. «The layoffs are very sad, but these are the realities of business. Ukraine as a region is a risky investment, and not all companies are ready to work with such risks,» said the anonymous source.

The company left the Ukrainians with working equipment for personal use and paid monetary compensation for their dismissal. However, Takeoff Technologies has warned that if they feel the need for new staff, they will only accept applicants from India and the United States.