Some Unicorns Expand, Some Don’t

Adyen said that payments volumes for the firm were up 80 percent year over year to a volume of $90 billion. The key drivers were and have been retail and fashion, the firm said. Global expansion has been proceeding apace as the firm signs new clients and is live in 2,700 stores across the U.S. and Europe.

Separately, as noted in the financial trade press, Airbnb is looking to boost its presence beyond residence sharing. The firm may look to have scale in travel, with footholds in trip planning and beyond. The expansion would come as the company would use the $3 billion on its books and would also take into consideration regional movement to China and India.

In the opposite of expansion, Zenefits said that it is laying off 45 percent of its workforce. This would be the third round of layoffs for the company in the past year. The company has been retooling its product lines and also centralizing ops, even amid fines for $7 million tied to license violations.

Separately, Chicago Inno said last week that Uptake, the startup based in that Windy City, has reached a $2 billion valuation in roughly two-and-a-half years, with the fastest time to that level of any unicorns tracked as per PitchBook. That came after a $40 million investment from Revolution Growth.