SeekOut, an 8-year-old recruiting startup that makes use of synthetic intelligence to seek out candidates, minimize about 30% of its workforce on Thursday, TechCrunch has discovered.
“Just lately, we have been spending roughly $2 to earn $1, and we made a big loss final fiscal yr,” SeekOut CEO Anup Gupta and CTO Aravind Bala wrote in a letter to staff. “Sadly, to get us on a sustainable trajectory, we now have to make important headcount reductions.”
That is the second time the Seattle-based startup has had layoffs. SeekOut laid off 16 staff in October, or about 7% of its workforce on the time, GeekWire reported. In accordance with the report, the corporate had about 200 staff after the October layoffs.
The letter mentioned the corporate has determined to refocus and prioritize a smaller variety of initiatives that can have the best affect on prospects and add worth to the enterprise.
“This discount is a strategic measure geared toward strengthening our monetary place and sustaining our aggressive benefit within the expertise acquisition and administration segments. The staff who’re leaving are receiving intensive assist,” Sam Shaddox, SeekOut’s basic counsel and chief privateness officer, informed TechCrunch in an electronic mail.
SeekOut was final valued at greater than $1.2 billion in January 2022, when it raised $115 million in a Sequence C spherical led by Tiger World. On the time, the corporate’s income was rising at a fee of 300% per yr, and its annual recurring income (ARR) ranged from $25 million to $50 million.
However the recruiting surroundings has modified considerably since then. Discovering expertise in fields like expertise has turn out to be a lot simpler amid rising rates of interest, forcing each massive firms and startups to focus extra on their backside line.
Tech giants corresponding to Alphabet and Meta have laid off many 1000’s of staff throughout 2022 and 2023. This development will inevitably damage SeekOut’s enterprise: The corporate’s software program helps massive firms in industries corresponding to expertise, prescribed drugs, aerospace, protection and banking determine “hard-to-find” and various candidates.
Different SeekOut buyers embrace Madrona Enterprise Group, Mayfield and GV.
