Smartphone start-up Jolla is reportedly set to lay-off up to half of its staff, due to financial woes which could threaten the company’s existence.

According to Mobile Linux News, financing that was expected for November has been delayed, meaning half of the company’s workforce has been put on unpaid leave. Citing a Finnish newspaper, Softpedia said that the board is currently discussing layoffs, which could come next week.

There have also been mixed reports over the delivery of Jolla’s tablets, which have been pre-ordered by a number of buyers, but long-delayed in terms of production. While it has shipped what it described as a “relatively small first batch”, subsequent deliveries were hit by “various factors and simply the fact that we are still a start-up”.

Earlier this year, Jolla announced a plan to split its hardware and software efforts, although it is not clear how far it progressed to this end.

It has also seen some high-profile departures, including co-founder Marc Dillion and Tomi Pienimaki, its CEO.

However, the company’s Sailfish OS has seen some support from Russia and Africa, as a potential alternative to the main smartphone platforms, which are controlled by US companies.

But the platform has not been adopted beyond Jolla’s own hardware. A partnership with Indian smartphone player Intex was announced earlier this year, with the intention of making devices available in the near future.