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HeadSpin

Software testing / dev toolsUSA
New to Unitard
✂️ Markdown
Peak $1.1 BillionToday
~-73%
from peak
  1. 🦄
    Became a unicorn
    2020
  2. 📈
    Peak valuation
    $1.1 Billion ’20
  3. 💔
    Became a Unitard
    2020
  4. 💸
    Last valuation
    ~$297M
Current status
Valuation cut from $1.1B to ~$300M in a 2020 recapitalization after its founder was charged with fraud.

The rise & fall

6 moments · 2015–2024

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

2015
Founded in Palo Alto
A platform for testing mobile and web apps on real devices around the world.
TechCrunch
Feb 2020
The peak: $1.1B on numbers that weren't real$1.1B
Iconiq and Tiger Global back the dev-tools darling at $1.1B.
TechCrunch
2020
The revenue wasn't real
An internal review finds ARR inflated to roughly $80M against about $10M actual; founder-CEO Manish Lachwani is out.
CNBC
2020
Recapped out of the club$300M
The board reprices HeadSpin at ~$300M and hands back some 70% of Series B and C investors' capital.
CNBC
Aug 2021
The founder is charged with fraud
Federal prosecutors charge Lachwani over the inflated numbers; he is later convicted.
DOJ
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2021–24
Glassdoor reviews from the years after the recap described the aftermath: leadership turnover and an unclear product direction, with reviewers noting that much of the best talent was laid off in cost cuts or simply moved on.

💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.

How it happened

HeadSpin built a platform for testing mobile and web apps on real devices worldwide, and hit a $1.1B valuation in February 2020 with backing from Iconiq, Tiger Global and others. The numbers turned out to be fabricated: founder-CEO Manish Lachwani had inflated annual recurring revenue to about $80M against roughly $10M actual.

An internal review slashed the valuation to about $300M, returned some 70% of capital to recent investors and ousted Lachwani, who was later convicted of fraud.

Source: SEC / CNBC / TechCrunch ($1.1B valuation Feb 2020; CEO Manish Lachwani charged (later convicted) with inflating ARR to ~$80M vs ~$10M actual; valuation revised to ~$300M, ~70% of capital returned to Series B/C investors)

Founders

  • Manish Lachwani
    Co-founder & CEO who led HeadSpin to its $1.1B valuation; charged/convicted of fraud, stepped down 2020
    No public profile matched
  • Brien Colwell
    co-founder & CTO
    Now Builder at UR FoundationLinkedIn ↗

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-19. See our methodology.

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