Whoop Inc. , the maker of popular screenless fitness bands, plans to increase its staff by as much as 75% this year to fuel growth ahead of a potential initial public offering. The Boston-based company intends to add more than 600 new roles across various departments, including software, research, design, hardware, product development, manufacturing, sales and marketing, founder and Chief Executiv...
Whoop Inc. , the maker of popular screenless fitness bands, plans to increase its staff by as much as 75% this year to fuel growth ahead of a potential initial public offering. The Boston-based company intends to add more than 600 new roles across various departments, including software, research, design, hardware, product development, manufacturing, sales and marketing, founder and Chief Executive Office Will Ahmed said in an interview announcing the expansion. The majority of the new employees will be based at the company’s headquarters, he said, with additional hiring planned across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Whoop currently operates in 60 countries, with 60% of sales coming from international markets. That marks a relatively recent change for the firm: Just four years ago, the US made up about 70% of its member base. Whoop, founded in 2012, currently employs nearly 800 full-time staff, after hiring almost 300 people over two years. “We’re investing pretty consistently across the entire business,” Ahmed said. “There isn’t an area we’re not investing in.” The planned hiring spree is happening at a time when a growing number of publicly traded tech companies are shrinking their staffs, in some cases citing artificial intelligence as an opportunity to streamline operations. Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc. said last week, for example, that it would slash nearly half its workforce after investing heavily in AI tools to run more efficiently. Other companies have also made deep cuts in recent months. Amazon.com Inc. earlier this year announced plans to shed 16,000 corporate jobs. Meta Platforms Inc. said it would eliminate more than 1,000 jobs from its Reality Labs division to redirect resources to AI wearables and phone features. Pinterest Inc. plans to cut “ less than 15% ” of its workforce and will reduce office space, also in an effort to shift resources toward AI. Autodesk Inc. , too, said it would trim about 1,000 positions . “There’s a lot of compa...