Wayflyer cofounder Jack Pierse to leave company to pursue new ventures

The cofounder of tech unicorn Wayflyer, Jack Pierse, is to step away from the company to pursue new projects, it was confirmed on Tuesday.

Mr Pierse, who is currently the chief financial officer of Wayflyer, is set to leave following a handover in the next couple of months. No details were given on his plans.

The company, founded by Aidan Corbett and Mr Pierse in 2019, provides ecommerce stores with affordable unsecured loans to allow them to fund advertising and inventory in advance of selling items. It also offers detailed analytics to help clients improve their sales performance. Wayflyer, which was valued at more than €1 billion in early 2022, operates in 12 markets.

Mr Pierse said the opportunity for Wayflyer “remains incredibly exciting”. “I’ve every faith in this team being the right group to pursue the ambition Aidan and I have set down for this company,” Mr Pierse said.

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After reaching unicorn status in just more than two years, the company hit rough waters when the tech downturn impacted its business. In November last year, the company said it would cut 200 jobs from its global workforce of 500 – a 40 per cent reduction in staff – with 70 roles expected to go in Dublin. A further 10 roles were to transfer from the US to Dublin, bringing the net loss to 60.

[ Irish tech unicorn Wayflyer to cut 40% of jobs globally ]

Last month, Wayflyer renewed its $300 million (€278 million) debt financing with JP Morgan, a renewal of an agreement made in 2022, allowing the company to continue to support ecommerce merchants around the world.

Wayflyer said it has provided more than $2 billion to more than 3,000 online businesses since 2019, with the bulk of that – 60 per cent – being in the past 12 months.

[ Wayflyer renews $300m JP Morgan debt financing deal ]

Mr Corbett said Mr Pierse had been in discussions with him for some time about moving on to a new venture “when the time was right”.

“Given our recent renewal of funding with JP Morgan and Wayflyer’s improved trading performance this year to date, we’ve agreed that time is now,” he said.

“As a founder, Jack has made an enormous contribution to the business, including coming up with the original idea for Wayflyer back in 2019. We’ll miss him very much and wish him the best for his next venture.”

Consumer demand for Wayflyer’s services has held up in the US, where the company has the bulk of its business, and in Australia. However, the UK has seen some fall-off in custom, Mr Corbett said. Wayflyer plans to concentrate on existing markets for the next couple of years, rather than try to break new territories.