Singapore-Israeli retail analytics and inventory management solutions company Trax is laying off 10% of the 300 employees at its Israel development center as it prepares for an initial public offering on Wall Street this year. Trax, which has raised $370 million to date and had a valuation of $1.5 billion when it raised $100 million in July 2019, hopes to hold its New York offering at a company valuation of $2 billion.
Trax said there is no connection between preparations for the IPO and the layoffs in Israel. The company said, "Trax is undergoing rapid global growth and as part of the integration of several companies that have been acquired in the past 18 months and the focus on target markets a restructuring is required. As part of this restructuring, we are working to reduce the work force at the development center in Israel, which has 300 employees. The planned reduction being considered is for at least 10%, and the company is in direct contact with all the relevant employees.
This is the second time in less than a year that Trax has been implementing layoffs. In May the company fired 10% of its global work force due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on growth. Trax currently has 1,000 employees in 20 countries.
The layoffs in Israel follow five acquisitions by Trax in the past 18 months including two companies in France, two in the US and one in China. In 2019 Trax acquired US company Shopkick for $200 million and last year Trax acquired French company Qopius, which has 40 employees that are being integrated into Trax's work force. All the acquired companies were either rivals or have complementary products.
Trax was founded in 2010 by CEO Joel Bar-El and Chief Commercial Officer Dror Feldheim, The company has developed image recognition technology that turns shelf images in stores into real-time actionable insights.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 20, 2021
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