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The U.S. unemployment rate is at a 53-year-year low, but don't tell that to the tech sector.
Tech giants from Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) to Google (Nasdaq: GOOGL) to Facebook (Nasdaq: META) have slashed staff in recent months as the sector grapples with slowdowns and periods of overhiring during Covid-era boom times. Layoffs have also spread to venture-backed startup unicorns, who are cutting jobs by the hundreds at offices across the country.
Among the unicorns thinning the herd: Olive AI, a Columbus, Ohiom health care software firm that recently let go 215 employees, according to Columbus Inno. The cuts, reportedly impacting one-third of the staff, come after Olive fired 450 workers in July.
In July 2021, Olive was valued at $4 billion after raising a $400 million round.
Also this month, Philadelphia-born unicorn Misfits Market announced it's closing its South Jersey distribution center in a move that result in 446 layoffs, part of a larger consolidation plan by the five-year-old startup, according to PHL Inno. The grocery delivery company will also shutter fulfillment centers in Salt Lake City and Dallas, both of which opened in the past two years. The closures will ultimately result in the company trimming its workforce by 649, or 33% of its employee base.
Other unicorns to undergo layoffs in 2023 include delivery startup Getir, which cut 100 jobs, and Seattle software startup Highspot, which let 100 employees go.
Since the start of 2023, tech companies have already cut more than 100,000 jobs, according to layoff trackers Layoffs.fyi, and there's no relief in sight. Experts predict more mass layoffs to come in the tech sector this year.
Startups to watch
Hot companies to keep your eye on
- Researchers at Tufts University are behind Morphoceuticals Inc., a startup that aims to develop the technology for regenerating limbs and organs and repairing tissues. The company raised $8 million in funding. The startup has already proven its approach has promise in African clawed frogs, and with its technology the frog regrew a functional leg with new skin, bone, vasculature and nerves in 18 months.
- Bay Area startup Descope wants to put an end to passwords. Just out of stealth status, the company, which just announced a massive $53 million seed round, is helping software developers easily incorporate facial recognition, so-called magic keys, social links and other tools to help create passwordless authentication in their apps.
- Atlanta beverage startup Lemon Perfect, backed by Beyoncé, raised $36 million in fresh funding. The startup has created a flavored lemon water product without sugar or artificial flavors, containing organic lemons, electrolytes from potassium and vitamin C. It has raised at least $78 million to date.
- Cincinnati startup Clean Earth Rovers is developing the “Roomba of the sea" with its autonomous technology to monitor water quality and clean plastic and pollution out of waterways. The company, currently looking to raise $1 million, skims the surface to physically remove waste and debris, including trash, fish, oil and algae.
- In other aqua innovation, Baltimore startup Marinalife, billed as the "Hotels.com for boaters," raised $5 million. It's developing marina management software that will help business owners track reservations and other parts of their boating business.
Weird and wired
Keeping you plugged into the lighter side of startup news
Artificial intelligence is everywhere these days. And the technology is on display in a major way at Carnegie Mellon University, where a robotic arm equipped with a paintbrush is creating art on its own following text or visual prompts from users, according to Pittsburgh Inno. Using AI models not unlike generative AI tools from Open AI, the makers of ChatGPT, the Pittsburgh bot can create works of art from text descriptions or by submitting other art or original photographs as inspiration. It's named FRIDA, a double entendre as a reference to the famed artist Frida Kahlo as well as for Framework and Robotics Initiative for Developing Arts.
