Covid-19 testing company SummerBio LLC is cutting all its staff — including its president and chief business officer — as it prepares to shut down.
The Menlo Park startup is laying off 101 workers — 74 permanent and 27 temporary — and closing its laboratory on 185 Constitution Dr., according to a letter it sent Tuesday to the California Employment Development Department. A company representative confirmed that the layoffs represent the entirety of SummerBio's workforce.
The startup offers rapid and mass processing of PCR — polymerase chain reaction — tests for the coronavirus. Such services were much needed in the early days of the pandemic. But with the disease no longer leading as many hospitalizations or deaths, the demand for mass PCR testing is down, the representative said in an emailed statement.
"As we now move into the third year of this pandemic, the demand for PCR testing has shifted," the representative said in the statement. The representative continued: "As a result, SummerBio will be processing its last sample on July 30 and fully shutting down its Menlo Park lab operations by the end of August."
In addition to the two high-profile workers, others affected by the cuts include SummerBio's medical director, its vice president of finance, its director of talent acquisition, 10 clinical laboratory technicians and 16 temporary clinical laboratory assistants.
The company notified affected employees June 9, Alyssa McConnell, vice president of SummerBio's people team, said in the letter. It began laying people off on June 10 and will continue to do so in phases until it closes the lab, said McConnell.
As of January, the company had about 75 employees total.
SummerBio was a Startup to Watch
SummerBio gave workers 60 days notice of their jobs being cut or, if they are due to be laid off before that 60 days is up, will pay their salaries and healthcare benefits through that period or until they voluntarily resign, McConnell said in the letter.
Founded in May 2020, about two months after the Bay Area put in place shelter-in-place orders to combat the Covid pandemic, SummerBio's service was designed to address the problem at the time of the lack of tests and testing capacity for the coronavirus. Among its co-founders was Sasha Seletsky, who cut short a planned long-term sabbatical in its early weeks to help launch the company and serve as its chief business officer. He also appears to be among those whom the company is laying off.
Earlier this year, Bay Area Inno named SummerBio one of its Startups to Watch. In February, the company announced it planned to build a new laboratory a few blocks from its headquarters in Menlo Park. That new laboratory is the one the company plans to close, according to McConnell's letter.
It is not clear whether SummerBio plans to continue operations elsewhere.
The startup raised $7.3 million in an early-stage venture round in November 2020, according to PitchBook. Among its backers are 8VC, Intel Capital and Capricorn Investment Group.
