SoftBank-Backed Fetch Rewards Cuts Staff Amid Shopping Slowdown

Fetch's booth at the Groceryshop 2022 Conference in Las Vegas. Photo by Fetch.

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SoftBank-backed shopper rewards startup Fetch Rewards laid off around 100 employees on Monday, making up at least 10% of its workforce, the company confirmed to The Information.

Fetch had pitched itself as a way for sellers to battle rising digital marketing costs following Apple’s privacy restrictions. But the Madison, Wis.-based company hasn’t been immune to the broader slowdown in retail spending, which has prompted job cuts at e-commerce giants like Shopify and Amazon.

Fetch raised $240 million in equity and debt at a $2.4 billion pre-money valuation in March 2022 from backers including SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, Greycroft Partners and Yuri Milner’s DST Global, according to PitchBook. Fetch leadership had set the goal of reaching profitability in 2023 and either being acquired or going public rather than having to do another fundraising round, according to a person briefed on the plans.