Catalant Technologies, the Boston-based startup that runs an AI-driven skills matching and resource allocation platform, has laid off workers as the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, takes its toll on the startup economy.
The company confirmed the layoffs in an email to BostInno but declined to answer questions how many employees had been let go or in what departments. A spokesperson said that customer delivery teams were not impacted and that Catalant was hiring for certain roles on the engineering team.
"It was a difficult decision to make, and we feel for our former teammates," the spokesperson wrote. "We’re grateful for and proud of the work that they — and all of our team members — have done on behalf of our customers. We’re doing everything we can to help them land on their feet."
The company declined to answer questions about whether it had provided support to those were let go in the form of severance packages or outplacement services.
Catalant raised $35 million in Series E funding just two months ago. The startup was also one of BostInno's 50 on Fire winners in the software category in 2019.
"Like every other company, we don’t yet know the full extent of COVID-19’s impact on our customers," the spokesperson wrote. "We have accordingly budgeted for what could ultimately be a long period of uncertainty."
Catalant is one of a cadre of Boston startups that have let go or furloughed workers in the wake of COVID-19. In just the last two weeks, enterprise AI unicorn DataRobot, smart water dispenser developer Bevi, corporate catering startup Alchemista, car-sharing company Zipcar and travel startups Lola.com and Wanderu have also made cuts.
