Tekion went through a round of layoffs in early August, an action taken as the dealership management system company focuses on generating revenue and building its business, according to the company.
The tech company confirmed through a spokesperson that it reduced staff but declined to say how many people lost their jobs. Tekion, of Pleasanton, Calif., issued a statement to Automotive News explaining the move comes as it is "laser-focused" on scaling up operations.
"Building a large-scale business while keeping our mission intact requires us to make tough, but important, business decisions; mainly organizational adjustments to navigate through changing macroeconomic conditions," the company said.
Tekion said it has "made the difficult decision to reduce a small percentage" of its work force "in some areas" of its operations. In addition, the company said, it is working to help affected employees.
"We deeply empathize with these impacted colleagues and are working to support them with their career transitions, with severance pay, outplacement assistance and additional support through our Employee Assistance Program," the company added. "We are grateful to these impacted employees for their contributions."
Inc42, an India publication, reported Aug. 2 that 300 Tekion employees were affected by the layoffs, with about 200 based in India. But the Tekion spokesperson said via email that "the information that has been included in other articles is not accurate and did not come from Tekion."
As of May, Tekion reported employing 3,000 people.
Jay Vijayan, former chief information officer for Tesla, founded Tekion in 2016. The company has raised $451 million in venture capital as of May, including a $250 million round in 2021. Its core product is Automotive Retail Cloud, a cloud-based DMS that uses artificial intelligence to streamline retail sales and interactions between automakers, retailers and consumers.
In July, Tekion acquired Five64, a maker of interstate and state vehicle registration technology that had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Plans call for weaving that technology into Tekion's DMS with a goal of simplifying interstate transactions.
