Voice AI firm SoundHound has reportedly laid off half its workforce | Engadget

SoundHound, the corporate that after stated it wished to dominance within the AI voice market, has reportedly minimize about half its workforce. According to , the agency laid off about 200 staff final week as a part of a company-wide restructuring. If Gizmodo’s reporting is correct, the mass layoffs would mark the second employees discount SoundHound has undertaken in lower than a 12 months. In November, the corporate reportedly . Before the primary spherical of cuts, SoundHound employed roughly 450 individuals.

A trio of former staff who spoke to Gizmodo described a “pitiful” severance bundle contingent on the corporate elevating more cash. They declare the bundle consists of no healthcare and solely two weeks of severance. The firm didn’t instantly reply to Engadget’s request for remark. SoundCloud went public by way of a special-purpose acquisition firm in early 2022. According to knowledge from , the agency has raised greater than $300 million thus far. SoundHound clients embrace Pandora, Mercedes-Benz and Snap.

In an e mail obtained by Gizmodo, SoundHound CEO and co-founder Keyvan Mohajer blamed the layoffs on current macroeconomic situations. “When we set course in early 2021 to become publicly listed, high-tech companies like SoundHound were the darlings of the investor community. Companies who could achieve high growth, despite high costs, were seen as engines of a future economy, ” he wrote. “However, as a result of changing economic conditions, including high interest rates, rising inflation, and fears of recession, companies with our profile became much less desirable.” Mohajer reportedly went on so as to add buyers “were concerned” SoundHound did “not have the heart to let go of its people.”

In the previous couple of months, mass layoffs have been a frequent incidence at many tech firms. At the beginning of November, Facebook father or mother Meta minimize about , a transfer that noticed greater than 11,000 individuals lose their jobs. More just lately, Amazon expanded the scope of its company-wide layoffs to have an effect on greater than 18,000 staff.

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