Noom lays off more employees amid CFO departure • TechCrunch

Noom, a health coaching platform valued at $3.7 billion last year, is laying off a portion of staff for the second time in a matter of months, TechCrunch has learned from sources.

Noom has laid off 10% of his staff, or about 500 people, a reduction that mainly affects his coaching staff. It is the second layoff affecting Noom’s coaching team in a matter of months, affecting hundreds of employees.

“Noom has seen extraordinary growth in recent years, and it is essential that we are structured in a way that allows us to continue to grow for the long term,” a Noom spokesperson said by email. “We recently made the difficult decision to reduce the number of Noom employees. We are deeply grateful for their contributions to Noom and wish them continued success.” Noom declined to answer questions about the scale of the layoffs, severance packages and strategy beyond this statement.

The startup, which has raised more than $650 million in funding since its launch in 2008, is partially known for its controversial approach to weight loss and dieting. Now, however, it shows tensions from a staff point of view. The curtailment of Noom’s training services suggests a departure from the platform’s original tone, which was to combine smart nutrition with exercise training. In 2020, Noom reached $400 million in revenue with this strategy. A year later, Noom expanded his coaching services by launching a mental health vertical.

His current website shows a glimpse of how Noom thinks, or at least thinks, about coaching as a strategy.

“Welcome to Noomily,” says the Noom website. “Our trainers guide users through the ups and downs of the weight loss process with empathy and compassion. They help users better understand themselves through personalized action plans that are based on their individual goals, preferences and lifestyle.”

The Trainer Home Page goes on to explain the daily life of a Noom Trainer, from helping clients develop “a healthy lifestyle” to “helping grow something amazing.” Trainers can sign up for health plans after 90 days of employment, the website said.

Now, however, that advertising has a different tone. The company is reportedly moving more towards scheduled video calls rather than live chat.

According to a memo obtained by TechCrunch, Noom co-founders Artem Petakov and Saeju Jeong addressed the employee layoffs, saying it was critical for the company to “manage expenses, increase efficiency, and be more effective in how we achieve our mission.” despite “significantly improving” the company’s finances.

“Today’s decisions put us in a position where we can continue to make big bets for the year ahead and innovate and grow for years to come,” the co-founders wrote in the internal memo. Today’s firing comes just as the company’s chief financial officer, Mike Noonan, is leaving to join TripAdvisor, the Wall Street Journal reports. A Noom spokesperson said by email that the layoffs and the departure of the chief financial officer are two “separate and unrelated announcements.”

In the internal memo, the co-founders went on to say that the startup’s big bet is on creating a more complete mind-body platform with a higher degree of customization. The co-founders agreed with their business offer as “another bet that has the potential to dramatically expand our customer base.”

“Finally, in the coming days, we may see unkind headlines, but we ask that you stay focused on what’s most important now: caring for our departing colleagues like family, treating them with humanity and respect,” they wrote. co-founders.

It was last known that the company was planning an initial public offering in 2022, with a valuation of $10 billion.

Current and former Noom employees can contact Natasha Mascarenhas by email at natasha.m@techcrunch.com or Signal, a secure encrypted messaging application, at 925 271 0912.