Vietnamese startup Sky Mavis slashes 21 per cent of workforce

Nguyen Thanh Trung, co-founder of Sky Mavis, the development company behind Axie Infinity and the Ronin gaming blockchain, said that the lay-offs were not related to the company’s budget or financial health.

“Instead, it is a strategic move that allows for a sharper focus and positioning Sky Mavis for hyper growth in 2025 and beyond,” he said.

Although Sky Mavis did not specify which departments will be downsized, the company stated that laid-off workers would get a severance payment and assistance in seeking new jobs.

Sky Mavis employed approximately 250 employees globally last year, of which 200 people were working in Ho Chi Minh City. Many foreign personnel are also working for Sky Mavis at the Ho Chi Minh City office.

Trung said recent global policy shifts for cryptocurrency are expected to create innovation waves alongside the Web3 projects in the near future, just like in 2018 when the company launched its blockchain game Axie Infinity.

Thus, the company gives a priority to key projects, including the development of Axie Infinity, the Ronin wallet, the Mavis marketplace, Web3 game publishing, and expanding the Ronin network for more developers.

Founded in 2018 by Trung and four others, Sky Mavis is one of the few Vietnamese unicorn startups with a billion-dollar valuation. The game went viral during the COVID-19 pandemic due to its play-to-earn model.

The company suffered a $600 million loss in 2022 when hackers targeted its Ronin network, prompting the company to make major changes to its system.

Today, Ronin is the third most used blockchain in the world, with more than 1.1 million daily active addresses. The Ronin wallet has been downloaded over 10 million times.

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