Blend Labs is cutting 150 employees in yet another layoff round, it disclosed Wednesday alongside second quarter earnings in which the fintech trimmed its recent eight-figure losses.
Modest revenue gains helped the cloud banking platform developer improve on its
The company, which is projecting profitability in 2024, said its terminations won't affect customer success teams which are helping with the business' numerous product rollouts.
"We're paying very close attention to how we spend our sales and marketing dollars and making sure we get the best ROI," said Nima Ghamsari, founder, chairman, CEO and head of Blend in an earnings call Wednesday.
The firm's fifth round of
Blend's revenue grew to $42.8 million in the second quarter from $37.3 million at the end of March. The uptick was led by gains in segments including consumer banking, which covers home equity and other personal lending products, and in mortgage suite revenue which includes the firm's Income Verification, Insurance, Realty and closing solutions.
Executives also promoted 18 consumer banking products released this year, and teased a backlog of over a dozen more projects. Blend recently added a recurring software fee to aid its cash flow, and shifted its payment terms to receive funds in advance, said Amir Jafari, head of finance and administration.
Mortgage Suite revenue of $22.3 million was down 17% from the same time last year, a decline the fintech attributed to a 37% drop-off in industry origination volume. Blend's revenue per mortgage transaction fell slightly quarter-over-quarter to $93, but was well above last year's second quarter $77 per mortgage transaction figure.
The firm's title revenue remained flat from the first quarter to the second, ending June at $12.5 million. The overall waning revenue from Blend's prior Title365 acquisition is stabilizing and will contribute profits under non-generally accepted accounting principles in the next several quarters, Ghamsari said.
Blend counted $277.9 million of cash and cash equivalents, an unchanged $225 million outstanding debt on a five-year loan, and a $25 million undrawn revolving line of credit.
The second quarter revenues squeaked by the consensus estimates by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and didn't deter investors, who sent the stock to $1.68 per share before falling to its opening price of $1.40 per share by midday.
On the eve of Blend's first quarter earnings, it received notice from the New York Stock Exchange that it wasn't in compliance with a listing standard as it traded under $1 per share for a 30-day period. The company regained compliance with the listing requirement as of July 31, it confirmed.
The stock, which opened at $20.90 a share at the firm's initial public offering in 2021, dipped as low as $0.55 a share in mid-May before recovering.
