NFT marketplace OpenSea lays off 50 per cent of its workforce

San Francisco: Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace startup OpenSea, valued at $13.3 billion last year, has laid off about half of its workforce as part of “significant organisational and operating changes”.

A company representative told Decrypt that approximately 50 per cent of employees were impacted across the company. The exact number of affected employees were not revealed.

“We are making significant organisational and operating changes as we focus on building a more nimble — and ultimately better — version of OpenSea,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

“With these changes, we are better positioned to deliver for the community, shipping high-impact efforts and matching the speed at which this space evolves,” the spokesperson added.

Devin Finzer, co-founder and CEO of OpenSea posted on X that “We’re building a new foundation so we can innovate faster and we’ll have some experiences to share with you soon.”

“We will change how we operate – shifting to a smaller team with a direct connection to users. So we’re saying goodbye to a number of OpenSea teammates,” he added.

In July last year, OpenSea had laid off about 20 per cent of its total employees.

OpenSea was the largest marketplace during the NFT market boom. The startup raised $300 million at a $13.3 billion valuation in January 2022 for its Series C round.