Bird Rides Inc., an electric scooter startup that raised $250 million in October, today laid off 30% of its workforce to help weather the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Due to the financial and operational impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, we are saying goodbye to about 30% of our team,” Bird Chief Executive Travis VanderZanden wrote in an internal email published by TechCrunch. “As you know, we just raised hundreds of millions from investors, but given all the uncertainty, we needed to ensure a cash runway to last through the end of 2021.”

Bird received a $2.5 billion valuation after the October round in which it raised $250 million. The decision to cut headcount suggests that the startup’s leadership foresees potential challenges in securing more capital in the near term, a view that appears to be increasingly prevalent among startups. Bird rival Lime Inc. may reportedly drastically slash its valuation as part of an attempt to raise emergency funds while overall tech investments are trending down this quarter. 

The two startups are feeling the impact of the pandemic particularly hard because both have had to suspend their scooter sharing services. But tech companies outside the micromobility segment are starting to make adjustments, too. Sources tipped off The Information this week about four Silicon Valley startups that have cut 20% of their workforce to conserve resources.

Sequoia Capital, an investor in Bird, has issued a public warning to portfolio companies in which it called the coronavirus the “the black swan of 2020.” The influential venture capital firm is urging founders to “question every assumption” about their business, including headcount.

The fast-shifting economic reality is affecting not only startups but also the world’s largest enterprises. “A lot of our customers are adjusting to this new normal,”  VMware Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Poonen said this week in an exclusive interview with Wikibon analyst Dave Vellante, host of SiliconANGLE’s video studio theCUBE. “I believe people will spend money, and I think that the strongest companies will survive.”

Photo: Bird