Branch International Cuts Staff in Africa Amid $30 Million Profit

Visa-backed digital lending startup Branch International is reportedly cutting staff at its Kenyan and Nigerian offices.

That’s according to a report Friday (May 22) from Business Insider (BI), which said the layoffs are indicative of a large shift among African FinTechs, with startups focused on profitability, leaner operations and sustainability.

According to the report, the company says the layoffs were related to larger operational adjustments and not economic stress or fundraising issues.

“This was not a decision driven by financial distress,” the company said. “Both our Nigeria and Kenya markets were profitable last year, and Branch International declared a global profit of approximately $30 million for the 2025 financial year.”

The company also denied any relation between the cuts and fundraising activity, saying it is “not actively fundraising equity as we are profitable in every market.”

Branch added that the affected employees had gotten “extremely generous” severance packages. Per BI, that means at least four months compensation, and health insurance coverage for the remainder of the year.

The report added that Branch declined to reveal how many workers were affected or which departments saw cuts. One staffer based in Kenya told the BI that the scale of the layoffs were tough to determine as many employees had worked remotely, making the cuts less obvious than normal office-based reductions.

The cuts follow a string of other high-profile layoffs this month. Last week saw reports that TurboTax and QuickBooks maker Intuit plans to reduce its global headcount by approximately 17% — or 3,000 positions — as it moves to streamline operations and boost its investment in artificial intelligence.

In an email to employees cited by Reuters, CEO Sasan Goodarzi said reducing organizational complexity and simplifying the company’s structure was needed to deliver improved products. As part of this consolidation, the company is also shuttering its offices in Reno, Nevada, and Woodland Hills, California.

Also last week, Meta began cutting 8,000 jobs amid its own focus on AI spending. The tech giant had told workers in a memo that the layoffs are “all part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making.”

And earlier this month, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said it would cut 14% of its staff due to its AI focus and a rocky digital asset market.

“Crypto is also on the verge of the next wave of adoption, with stablecoins, prediction markets, tokenization, and more taking off,” CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on the company blog. “However, our business is still volatile from quarter to quarter.”