{"id":66148,"date":"2020-09-14T03:38:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T00:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/josh-kushner-linked-startup-axed-staff-three-days-before-snagging-ppp-loan\/"},"modified":"2020-09-14T03:38:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T00:38:00","slug":"josh-kushner-linked-startup-axed-staff-three-days-before-snagging-ppp-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/josh-kushner-linked-startup-axed-staff-three-days-before-snagging-ppp-loan\/","title":{"rendered":"#Josh Kushner-linked startup axed staff three days before snagging PPP loan"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Josh Kushner-linked startup axed staff three days before snagging PPP loan<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

September 13, 2020 |<\/span> 8:38pm <\/p>\n

\n Enlarge Image<\/p>\n

\"A<\/img>
\n A startup funded by Josh Kushner (here with glam wife Karlie Kloss) laid off staffers days before receiving a federal PPP loan meant to protect workers.<\/span>
\n Alamy Stock Photo<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\n A software startup backed by venture capitalist Josh Kushner axed about a third of its staff just three days before snagging coronavirus relief funds meant to help the firm preserve jobs, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

San Francisco-based Welkin Health laid off 10 of its roughly 30 employees on April 24 as the COVID-19 crisis sapp<\/a>ed sales, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.<\/p>\n

Three days later, the health-care software provider was approved for at least $1 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, according to federal data \u2014 a forgivable loan meant to help small businesses keep people employed or rehire laid-off workers.<\/p>\n

The April layoffs left Welkin with just about 20 employees, sources said \u2014 despite the company indicating to the Small Business Administration that it had 30 staffers, the data show.<\/p>\n

The cuts that Welkin made before learning whether it had access to the job-saving cash go against the spirit of the $659 billion program created to protect workers during a historic economic crisis, says government watchdog Liz Hempowicz.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point wasn\u2019t so that businesses could continue to exist on paper, or in a bank account,\u201d Hempowicz, director of public policy at the nonpartisan Project On Government Oversight, told The Post. \u201cIt was so that people remained employed during this time of great economic instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe practical effect here is that there\u2019s less money in this program to go to those small businesses that do have those employees still working there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Welkin has raised some $29 million from deep-pocketed investors in recent years, including from Thrive Capital \u2014 a venture fund run by Kushner, the husband of supermodel Karlie Kloss and younger brother of White House adviser Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n

As The Post has previously reported, Thrive urged portfolio companies, including Welkin, to stay away from the PPP program meant for \u201cfor the smallest, most vulnerable businesses in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese loans are less obviously for the startup with a host of institutional investors and several years of cash in the bank, looking to extend runway,\u201d Thrive wrote in an April 7 e-mail to startups that sought the fund\u2019s advice on the PPP funds.<\/p>\n

But Welkin defied Thrive\u2019s advice, and blamed the April layoffs on the pandemic drying up its sales pipeline, sources said.<\/p>\n

Now, sources say the layoffs could force the Silicon Valley company to pay back some of the loan instead of having it forgiven.<\/p>\n

Companies that receive PPP money are supposed to spend 60 percent of it on payroll costs in order for the feds to convert the loan into a grant.<\/p>\n

It could be tough for Welkin to clear that bar, said Hempowicz, because it\u2019s \u201cimpossible\u201d to pay people who\u2019ve been axed.<\/p>\n

And while PPP recipients have until Dec. 31 to rehire or replace laid-off workers and qualify for full loan forgiveness, Welkin doesn\u2019t appear to have made any headway.<\/p>\n

Several staffers have resigned since the layoffs, leaving the company with about 15 current employees, sources said. Welkin\u2019s Web site had only one job listing as of Friday.<\/p>\n

In response to The Post\u2019s reporting, Welkin CEO Michelle Pampin said the company moved forward with the loan \u201cafter careful legal review to confirm our eligibility, as well as our review of the intent of the program in supporting small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pampin also said many data points and statements The Post presented were \u201cinaccurate\u201d but did not elaborate.<\/p>\n

Welkin also axed roughly a dozen people a month prior to the COVID layoffs, on March 6, after losing its largest customer in February to a competitor, according to two sources.<\/p>\n

At the time of the March cuts, Welkin VP of Finance Joe Oest told remaining staffers that the company had about \u201c18 months of runway\u201d and that no more layoffs were forthcoming, the sources said.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

if you want to watch Movies<\/a> or Tv Shows go to Dizi.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a> <\/span> for forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more Business News<\/a> articles, you can visit our General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Josh Kushner-linked startup axed staff three days before snagging PPP loan” September 13, 2020 | 8:38pm Enlarge Image A startup funded by Josh Kushner (here with glam wife Karlie Kloss) laid off staffers days before receiving a federal PPP loan meant to protect workers. Alamy Stock Photo A software startup backed by venture capitalist Josh…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[68799],"class_list":["post-66148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-josh-kushner-linked-startup-axed-staff-three-days-before-snagging-ppp-loan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}