Domestika

Domestika, the U.S.-based online learning platform, is planning to lay off 89 employees in Spain, affecting 45% of the 198-person workforce at its Madrid subsidiary Dmstk SL. The company cites economic, organizational, and production reasons, including the impact of macroeconomic conditions and automation through AI tools like ChatGPT. Notably, 22 translation roles and 9 marketing content positions are being cut due to automation, with only a few remaining staff to oversee AI-generated output. The layoffs, part of an ongoing negotiation process, follow around 100 dismissals by the company in Spain last year. Despite raising over $100 million in 2022 and reporting global revenue of approximately $60 million, Domestika continues to streamline operations in response to technological shifts and sector-wide pressures.

Domestika, a Spanish-founded online learning platform valued as a unicorn, is facing allegations of a disguised mass layoff. Affected employees claim approximately 150 workers were dismissed globally in April 2022, including at least 70 in Spain, which would represent roughly 19% of its reported global workforce of about 800. The company's CEO has disputed this scale. The layoffs, conducted remotely via phone, followed a period of extraordinary pandemic growth and a recent $110 million funding round. Thirty-three dismissed employees in Spain have united in a legal challenge, arguing the firings constitute an unlawful collective dismissal. The company operates in the edtech industry.