Seattle-based interviewing startup Karat has laid off 47 employees, the company on Monday confirmed to the Business Journal.
Karat raised a $110 million Series C round in October 2021 and hit a value of $1.1 billion, making it one of the region's "unicorn" companies, or companies with a value of at least $1 billion. The company also received support from tennis superstar Serena Williams in April to grow Karat's Brilliant Black Minds program, which provides free job interviewing training and feedback to current and aspiring Black software engineers in the U.S.
"We are very intentionally focused on expanding our enterprise customer base, growing our footprint in India, scaling Brilliant Black Minds, and building new products. We are self-funding these areas of investment, and doing so required us to restructure several teams," a Karat spokesperson said in a statement. "These teammates were integral to growing Karat into the successful company it is today, and we are incredibly grateful to them. We have provided them with comprehensive exit packages, and we will do all we can to support their transitions."
Karat didn't disclose how many employees remain at the company after the cuts. Karat co-founder and CEO Mohit Bhende in April said the company had about 250 full-time employees and planned to double that headcount year over year. The company has more than 400 employees listed in LinkedIn.
Founded in 2014, Karat's technology and interviewers help screen engineering talent for clients. The goal is to free up clients' own tech talent to focus on core work rather than interviewing candidates. Karat also offers analytics and candidate recommendations. Its clients include American Express, Indeed and Ford.
Karat is the latest highly valued Seattle-area tech startup to lay off employees recently. Bellevue-based contract management company Icertis on Wednesday confirmed it had laid off employees but didn't provide specifics beyond saying most of the eliminated roles were in sales and marketing. Icertis had a value of $5 billion as of October 2021. Convoy, a freight network startup based in Seattle, conducted two rounds of layoffs last year after raising $260 million in equity funding and venture debt earlier in 2022 and reaching a value of $3.8 billion.
