The first African startup to go public via a SPAC is laying off a third of its workers

In the first week of April this year, the buzz around Swvl was about its entry into Africa’s group of billion-dollar companies. It achieved this by going public on Nasdaq via a Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicle (SPAC) with Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, a women-led blank-check company, as its sponsor.

Two months later, the bus-hailing company which started in Egypt is laying off 400 people—about 32% of its workforce—in a bid to become cash flow profitable by 2023.

The turn of events is not unusual for the current global tech climate. Companies like Instacart, and Klarna have cut down their valuations to appeal to investors worried about rising interest rates. Uber plans to cut back hiring. Meta has rescinded job offers. Mega investor Softbank has lost billions of dollars due to poorly-performing tech stocks like Doordash, and Grab.

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