Insurance startup BenefitVault has laid off most of its staff

Old City-based insurance startup BenefitVault laid off the majority of its staff in May, according to three former employees who requested anonymity.
Founded in 2013 under the premise of becoming the PayPal of the insurance business, the company — which had received $3.8 million in venture capital as of June 2015 — reportedly employed 30 before the cuts.
BenefitVault president Ryan Toner and CEO Cary Toner did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Calls also made to the offices of The Toner Group went unanswered.
Technical.ly visited the company’s offices in the basement of The Bourse during business hours and found only six employees on site. A LinkedIn search revealed that at least seven former workers removed BenefitVault from their profiles over the past six weeks.
Although it’s unclear why the company made the cuts, one former employee pointed to “misdirection” in the way the company was being led.
“I think this is a case other startups can review to see what went wrong and learn from these mistakes,” the former employee said. “And the lesson is: don’t sell something you’re not ready to sell. In this case, the technology was not up to being sold on the level it was being sold.”