Shapeways Holdings, Inc. Announces Reductions in Force and Reports Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

NEW YORK, Dec. 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shapeways Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SHPW) (“Shapeways” or the “Company”), a leader in the large and fast-growing digital manufacturing industry, today announced that on December 15, 2023, the Board of Directors of the Company approved a reduction in force as part of the Company’s cost-reduction initiatives, initiated in the third quarter of this year, intended to reduce operating expenses. These initiatives included a previous reduction in force completed in October 2023, a reduction of new hires, and a reduction in non-critical capital and discretionary operating expenditures.

As a result of the cost reduction initiatives, the Company reduced its current workforce by approximately 33 employees, representing approximately 24% of the Company’s global non-production workforce (or approximately 15% of the Company’s total global workforce).

The Company currently estimates that it will incur one-time cash charges of approximately $0.45 million in connection with the reductions in force, primarily consisting of notice period and severance payments, employee benefits, and related costs. The Company expects that the majority of these charges will be incurred in the fourth quarter of 2023 and that the reduction in force will be substantially complete by the end of the first quarter of 2024, subject to notice periods, and local law and consultation requirements, which may extend the process beyond the end of 2023. The charges the Company expects to incur are subject to assumptions, including local law requirements, and actual charges may differ from the estimate above.

In aggregate, the reduction in force, combined with the elimination of certain open positions, is expected to result in approximately $6.2 million in annual cash operating expense savings.

In addition, on December 20, 2023 (the “Date of Grant”), the Company granted inducement stock options covering an aggregate of 25,625 shares of Shapeways’ common stock to 14 newly hired non-executive employees.

The awards were granted under Company’s 2022 New Employee Equity Incentive Plan (the “Inducement Plan”), which provides for the granting of equity awards to new employees of Shapeways by the Company’s compensation committee in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). Each of the stock options granted as referenced in this press release has an exercise price of $2.09, the closing price of Shapeways’ common stock on the date prior to the Date of Grant. Each stock option vests over a four-year period, with one-fourth of the shares vesting on the first anniversary of the employee’s start date (the “First Vesting Date”), and the remaining shares vesting in thirty-six equal monthly installments over the next three years, commencing with the first month following the First Vesting Date, subject to continued employment with the Company through the applicable vesting dates.