SAN FRANCISCO: Fintech startup Synapse, backed by global VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and run by Indian-origin CEO Sankaet Pathak, has laid off 86 people, or nearly 40 per cent of its workforce.

This is the second round of layoffs at the startup this year. In June, CEO Pathak had announced to let go of 18 per cent of its workforce, as they “made the difficult decision to reduce and restructure our team in areas that were staffed for unrealised growth or redundancy”. Synapse said that they “deeply regret saying goodbye to incredibly talented and dedicated members of the Synapse team”.

“We have a strong group in place to manage all of our operations and support our customers. We don’t have anything to add to this right now beyond what’s been previously reported.” The startup was founded in 2014 by Bryan Keltner and Pathak, with an eye toward offering a viable alternative to legacy banking systems.