Cogo Labs, the Cambridge-based incubator affiliated with venture capital firm Link Ventures, has cut one-fifth of its staff "in an effort to strategically reduce financial cash burn," the company said in a statement to BostInno.
Cogo Labs did not respond to questions about exactly how many employees were laid off, nor to questions about whether executives had taken pay cuts in concert with the layoffs. The company confirmed that all departments were affected.
Cogo Labs employed 133 people as of June 2019, according to Boston Business Journal data.
According to the company's statement, the layoffs were not directly related to the Covid-19 pandemic, which took a heavy toll on Boston-area startups this spring. By our count, at least 30 startups, tech companies and related firms made cuts to adjust for coronavirus-related fallout, although some, like DataRobot and Spyce, have since bounced back.
Cogo Labs did, however, see a decline in ad spending by industries that were hurt by the pandemic — spending that was previously "a primary revenue source for the company," Cogo Labs said.
The employees who were let go received severance and extended health benefits. They have also received support from people in the Cogo Labs and Cogo Labs alumni network, including networking opportunities, job opportunities and interview prep, the company said in its statement.
"The layoff, a last resort, was not something the company had considered prior [to] this year," Cogo Labs said in the statement. "As Cogo Labs looks out over the next six months, there is a strategic need to run lean and agile with a laser focus on initiatives that will drive accelerated growth and new incubation in Cogo Labs."
