Getaround to Restructure, Lay Off 30% of North American Staff

Peer-to-peer carsharing marketplace Getaround is laying off about 30% of its North American staff as part of a restructuring plan.

The company will restructure its workforce and operations to reduce costs, align with the globalization of its business, lengthen its cash runway and accelerate its path to profitability, Getaround said in a Wednesday (Feb. 7) press release.

“Our focus on profitability and sustainable business growth necessitated this difficult workforce reduction program,” Sam Zaid, CEO at Getaround, said in the release.

The company said it expects that this cost reduction program will save $7 million on an annualized run-rate basis.

This move comes after a year in which Getaround added a number of products and services, Zaid said in the release. These include a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that that improves the safety and economics of the company’s marketplace, a new global app that enables trip coordination across the United States and Europe, and the launch of a gig carsharing offering that allows gig workers in the U.S. to rent cars while working.

These additions join the company’s 100% digital experience that lets consumers rent vehicles from entrepreneurs, per the release. This peer-to-peer marketplace was launched in 2011 and is now available in 1,000 cites across the U.S. and Europe. 

“As the only truly global and digital carsharing marketplace, and as the leader in gig carsharing, we believe Getaround is increasingly well positioned for the future,” Zaid said in the release. 

PYMNTS reported in July that about 70% of the carsharing company’s active cars are rented out by “power hosts” who own three or more cars. Many of these power hosts rent out hundreds, and at least one has more than a thousand. 

The rise of the sharing economy and the increasing trust and familiarity with marketplace models can help shift away from car ownership and monetize assets — vehicles — that often sit idle for most of the day, Zaid told PYMNTS in an interview posted in June.

“We own too many cars,” Zaid said. “We park them 22 to 23 hours a day, so there’s a vast amount of underutilization.”