Nigerian media startup, Big Cabal Media, the parent company to TechCabal and Zikoko, has laid off 19% of its staff.
The company in a statement released on Monday said the layoffs are due to the ‘harsh market conditions the business is facing this year.’
This comes a year after it raised $2.3 million to expand its digital products. The company reportedly grew its revenue by 180% year-on-year by the end of H1 2023, but this significant growth still did not match its budgetary expectations.
The company also revealed that it is scaling down Zikoko Citizen, it’s new governance and politics publication which launched late last year.
As a result of this, Big Cabal said the majority of the Citizen team was let go, while a few including EIC Akinyemi Muhammad were moved to other units within the company.
According to the company, the affected employees will receive two months’ severance pay in lieu of notice. The company also shared that it will recommend the outgoing employees to other businesses, writing letters of recommendation and assisting during the transition period.
In March last year, Big Cabal Media raised $2.3 million in a round that was led by American VC, Mark Venture Capital. Speaking on the fundraising in an interview with Nairametrics, the company’s CEO, Tomiwa Aladekomo said the fund was to be deployed in technology investment.
“With this new funding, BCM plans to develop its product serving, staff, and audience. We are expanding our video production by exploring docuseries and short films.
We will be transforming our studio into a community hub for creatives, and introducing 3 new tech products, including the Zikoko app and Zikoko Memes 2.0, which first launched in 2020. We will also be building out new audiences while offering competitive wages,” Aledekomo said.
According to Aladekomo, one of the attractions for the company’s investors was its advertising revenue potential, “When we say we’re going to build a really big advertising business they can see how we grew over 300% year on year advertising-wise last year, and you can see the trajectory that we will continue to grow from an advertising perspective at the same pace.
“And that gives them (the investors) the confidence that we’re building something that is truly massive, and that can return their investment and that is differentiated from the competition for us to win. “So that’s what I mean. Those are the things that you have to do to convince an investor,” he said.