Jobs go after restructure at Blackbird Ventures-backed Carted

afr.com:

Things are looking different at Sydney start-up Carted.

Street Talk can reveal the e-commerce outfit, backed by some of Australia’s biggest venture capital firms, underwent a company-wide restructure in June, laying off a chunk of staff in the process.

Holly Cardew is the co-founder of Carted. 

In May 2021, the company bagged $US10 million ($13 million) from investors including Blackbird Ventures and Mike Cannon-Brookes’ private Grok Ventures in one of Australia’s largest-ever seed rounds, at what was believed to be a $US50 million valuation. This allowed it to grow to a team of 14 from four and move its offices to Sydney.

But it has struggled to get a product into the market, launching a beta version in the first half of the year.

In a statement, Carted chief executive Holly Cardew confirmed a redundancy round. “In June of this year we made the decision to make eight incredible employees redundant as we adjusted our strategy,” she said.

“Carted is a seed stage company, and while innovation is not a straightforward path, we’re focused on executing on our vision.”

Carted was founded by Cardew and Mike Angell in 2020 as an attempt to redefine global e-commerce. The product was pitched as a way for consumers to buy what they view on social media, turning content platforms into e-commerce platforms.

The seed round was led by Blackbird Ventures, which has also backed businesses such as Eucalyptus, SafetyCulture and Culture Amp. The likes of Tidal Ventures, San Francisco-based Streamlined Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures and Grok Ventures – the family office for Mike Cannon-Brookes – also tipped in.

A falling out between the co-founders saw Angell leave the business last year. Sources told Street Talk that Carted still has a