Redis to lay off 80 in Israel

Israeli software company Redis is embarking on a major round of layoffs in Israel. “Globes” has learned that the company will lay off about 80 employees out of 300 in Israel, representing about 27% of the local workforce. This is one of the most significant rounds of layoffs the company has carried out in Israel in recent years, which comes in the wake of a period of changes in the company’s management.

Redis was founded in 2011 by Ofer Bengal and Yiftach Shoolman, but today none of the founders actually runs the company. In December 2022, Bengal, who had served as CEO since the company’s inception, announced that he would step down and serve as chairman, with the changes taking effect in February 2023 with the appointment of Rowan Trollope as CEO. Last year, Schoolman also left his active role in the company. He continues to serve as a member of the board of directors, but is no longer involved in day-to-day management, and at the same time he has founded a new startup.

Redis has developed a database management platform based on the open source Redis project, which has become one of the most popular databases in the world over the years. The company provides solutions that enable rapid access to data for enterprise applications and competes with solutions from major cloud providers, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

Strategic changes under new management

During tech boom years, Redis was one of the most prominent Israeli software companies. In 2021, the company raised $110 million at a valuation of more than $2 billion, less than a year after raising $100 million. The funding round was led by Tiger Global, with participation from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and TCV. At the same time, the three funds invested an additional $200 million in the purchase of shares from existing shareholders in a secondary deal. In total, the company has raised about $350 million over the years.

During that period, Redis had a rapid growth rate, more than 8,000 paying customers, including more than 30% of Fortune 100 companies, and announced plans to significantly expand its operations and hire hundreds more employees, a significant portion of whom in the Israel development center. At the time, the company was considered one of the most prominent candidates for a Wall Street IPO.

Since the change of management, the company has also undergone a series of strategic changes. In 2024, the company decided to abandon the open source license of its software in favor of a more restrictive license. This move sparked sharp criticism in the developer community and led to the creation of the competing project Valkey with the support of large technology companies. Last year, the company reversed its decision and announced that it would once again distribute the software under an open source license, after new CEO Trollope admitted that the decision had damaged the company’s relationship with the developer community.