Layoff Events

Rental car startup Kyte, which once billed itself as a top competitor to Hertz, has completely shut down as of August 2025. The company, which had raised over $300 million and operated in 14 markets, entered receivership after failing to secure new financing and falling behind on loans, leading its main lender to repossess and liquidate its vehicle fleet. This follows a restructuring in 2024, when Kyte exited most U.S. cities and laid off staff after struggling to achieve profitability in several markets. While it sold its customer list to Turo in July 2025, many customers with prebooked trips are now seeking refunds. Founded in 2019, Kyte offered on-demand rental car deliveries and controlled its own fleet, positioning itself in the competitive transportation and mobility industry as a venture-backed startup.

Restaurant365, a leading Irvine-based restaurant technology provider, laid off approximately 100 employees, or 9% of its workforce, last month, reducing staff from 1,100 to 1,000. The cuts, which impacted all departments, were attributed to the company falling short of its aggressive growth targets for the year. Despite quadrupling revenue over the past four years and securing significant private funding that valued it over $1 billion, the company stated that controlling cash flow and progressing toward profitability necessitated the adjustments. This move highlights the competitive challenges within the restaurant tech sector, particularly for vendors serving large chain restaurants.

F5 laid off 106 employees representing approximately 2% of its workforce on 2025-08-13.

Oracle, a major software company now headquartered in Austin, Texas, has laid off 289 employees across three of its Bay Area offices in Pleasanton, Redwood City, and Santa Clara. The layoffs, effective October 13, were announced via WARN notices filed in mid-August. This includes 45 employees in Pleasanton, 143 in Redwood City, and 101 in Santa Clara. While Oracle has not officially stated the reason, the layoffs coincide with the company's recent announcements about accelerating its AI initiatives, including new AI-driven health records and partnerships for agentic AI. Despite these cuts, Oracle remains a significant employer in the region, with its Pleasanton office having 886 workers in 2024 and Redwood City listing it as the top employer in 2023 with over 3,700 employees.

US memory chipmaker Micron Technology began a new round of layoffs in mainland China in mid-August 2025, affecting hundreds of employees. The cuts, which are part of a global retreat from the unprofitable mobile NAND flash memory market, are expected to eliminate over 300 positions across the company's research and development, testing, and support facilities in cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Xi'an. The decision was driven by the challenging financial performance of mobile NAND products, used in smartphones and tablets, amid broader fluctuations in the semiconductor industry and ongoing US-China tensions. While the exact percentage of Micron's total workforce impacted was not disclosed, the company offered voluntary departure packages with generous compensation to affected staff in China.

Crunchyroll, the Sony-owned anime streaming service, is laying off an undisclosed number of employees as part of a restructuring effort announced in early 2025. The company, which employs over 1,000 people, stated that the layoffs are not a cost-cutting measure but rather a strategic shift to adopt a new organizational model focused on regionally-empowered teams and engineering hubs in the U.S., Mexico, and India. President Rahul Purini emphasized that the changes aim to better serve the growing global anime fandom, with the service now boasting over 17 million paid subscribers. While the exact number of affected employees was not revealed, the company noted it is adding more positions than it is eliminating, framing the move as a proactive step to scale for future success in the competitive streaming industry.

Amdocs, a global provider of software and services to communications and media companies, is preparing for a new wave of layoffs expected to affect hundreds of employees as it centralizes its artificial intelligence strategy. The company announced the creation of a new GenAI & Data division on August 12, 2025, with the strategic goal of making AI an integral part of its operations. While the exact number of layoffs and the percentage of its total workforce are not officially confirmed, this move represents a shift from previous workforce adjustments, now directly driven by the generative AI revolution to reshape the company's structure and skills base.

BenchSci, a Toronto-based AI startup in the pharmaceutical technology sector, has laid off approximately 83 employees, representing 23% of its workforce, as part of a strategic shift to become an "AI-first" company. This move, announced in August 2025, follows a previous 17% reduction in early 2024. The company is aggressively adopting generative AI tools to automate workflows, streamline operations, and boost efficiency, explicitly aiming to replace human-performed tasks with AI. CEO Liran Belenzon emphasized that the company now prioritizes AI solutions before adding new staff or processes, reflecting a broader industry trend where tech companies leverage AI to reduce costs and enhance productivity.

Nextdoor laid off 67 employees representing approximately 12% of its workforce on 2025-08-07.

Peloton representing approximately 6% of its workforce on 2025-08-07.

Kaltura, a corporate video software company, has laid off 10% of its workforce, affecting about 70 employees out of 700, as part of its third round of job cuts since 2022. This streamlining effort, announced in August 2025, aims to reduce operating expenses by $8.5 million to push toward profitability, despite reporting improved revenue and initial AI product sales in its latest earnings. The publicly traded company, with a market capitalization of $262 million, continues to face stock price declines but maintains its sales and marketing budgets for growth.

Israeli-founded e-commerce unicorn Yotpo laid off approximately 200 employees in early August 2025, representing about 34% of its global workforce. This significant reduction is part of a major strategic overhaul where the company is refocusing on its core products—Reviews and Loyalty—and adopting an AI-first approach. As part of the restructuring, Yotpo is shutting down its Email and SMS marketing operations, selling that customer base to Attentive. The layoffs affected staff across its offices in Israel, Bulgaria, Poland, London, New York, and Australia, as the company aims to transform into a more focused and profitable, product-first organization.

In August 2025, just three weeks after acquiring the AI coding startup Windsurf, Cognition AI laid off 30 employees and offered buyouts to the roughly 200 remaining staff. This move, affecting a significant portion of the team, reveals that Cognition's primary interest was Windsurf's intellectual property rather than its talent, despite earlier assurances of retaining employees. The layoffs and stringent buyout conditions, including demands for over 80-hour work weeks, mark another turbulent chapter for Windsurf, which had previously faced a failed acquisition by OpenAI and a major talent exodus to Google.

Amazon is reorganizing its audio entertainment operations, consolidating production between its Wondery and Audible brands. This restructuring, announced in early August 2025, will result in about 100 layoffs. The move aims to streamline audio content across Amazon's vast media footprint, responding to the evolving podcast landscape with a shift toward more video-forward, creator-led content. As part of the changes, Wondery CEO Jen Sargent is exiting. The Wondery brand will continue focusing on celebrity-driven podcasts, while more narrative-driven series will shift to Audible. Amazon, a tech and e-commerce giant, acquired Wondery in 2020.

Clear, a consumer fintech company formerly known as Cleartax, has laid off approximately 16% of its workforce, affecting around 145 employees, as part of a broader strategic restructuring that took effect on August 1, 2025. The layoffs, which occurred during the peak tax-filing season—a critical revenue period for the firm—impacted several recently hired employees, including freshers who had joined just months prior. The company, which provides taxation and financial solutions, stated it is offering enhanced severance packages, continued health insurance, and outplacement assistance to those affected. This marks the second round of job cuts in three years, following a similar reduction in 2022.

Atlassian laid off 150 employees on 2025-07-30.

AI startup Astra, founded in 2023 and backed by Perplexity founder Aravind Srinivas, has ceased operations entirely, resulting in the layoff of its entire team. The company, which had a small, early-stage workforce, positioned itself as an AI-powered sales analytics platform. Co-founder and CEO Supreet Hegde announced the shutdown in a LinkedIn post, citing co-founder disagreements over growth pace, a lack of trust from enterprises regarding sensitive data, and market confusion due to the proliferation of AI agents. Despite securing two major clients, Astra never progressed beyond its beta phase. The closure occurred in mid-2024, marking the end for this SaaS venture in the competitive AI industry.

Indian AI unicorn Krutrim has laid off over 100 employees in a second round of job cuts, reportedly affecting a large portion of its linguistics team, which had around 600 members. This move, part of a strategic realignment to build leaner teams and manage resources better, follows a smaller round of layoffs in June. The company, which recently unveiled its AI assistant Kruti and announced major investments, is simultaneously stepping up hiring for its AI labs. The layoffs highlight the ongoing restructuring within the fast-growing AI startup as it balances expansion with operational efficiency.

On July 28th, 2025, ad-blocking and privacy software company Eyeo announced a major strategic overhaul, including a leadership change and significant staff reductions. The company is laying off 40% of its global workforce. While the exact total employee count was not officially confirmed, references to a team of over 300 suggest the layoffs affect more than 120 people, primarily in support roles. This restructuring coincides with the appointment of a new CEO, Douglas de Jager, and marks a strategic pivot for the company. Eyeo is shifting its focus from its core ad-blocking products toward building new privacy-centric tools designed to make online advertising private by default, a move the company calls a "strategic refounding."

Israeli fintech unicorn Tipalti laid off dozens of employees in late July 2025, marking its second significant workforce reduction after cutting 123 roles in early 2023. The company, which currently employs about 1,000 people, is reorganizing its sales and development divisions. The sales team is shifting focus to mid-market clients while reducing exposure to smaller customers, and development teams are being streamlined due to a strategic pivot. Tipalti, a high-value startup in the financial technology sector, provides automated payment and financial operations solutions to thousands of businesses globally.

EV financing and leasing startup Ohm Mobility has shut down operations, resulting in the layoff of its entire team. The company, which had approximately 20-30 employees, was unable to sustain growth despite five years of effort and multiple business model pivots. Founded in 2020, Ohm Mobility initially focused on connecting EV ecosystem players with financial institutions using IoT data for risk assessment. It later rebranded to Ohm Daily to target gig workers but failed to gain sufficient traction. The shutdown was confirmed in late July 2025, marking another closure in India's competitive startup and fintech sector. The company had raised around Rs 5 crore from investors including Antler India and Blume Ventures.

Cybersecurity firm PlaxidityX, formerly Argus Cyber Security, is laying off approximately 65 employees, representing about one-third of its 180-person workforce. The cuts, which include senior roles, are part of a global streamlining effort by its parent company, automotive giant Continental, ahead of the planned September IPO of its automotive division, Aumovio. The company cites adapting to market conditions and focusing on strategic growth as reasons for the restructuring, which was reported in late July 2025.

WiseTech on 2025-07-23.

ConsenSys laid off 47 employees representing approximately 7% of its workforce on 2025-07-22.

Social media startup Zeen, formerly known as Landing, is shutting down entirely after failing to achieve sustainable growth, resulting in the layoff of its entire team. The company, which had raised $9 million in venture capital since its founding in 2019, confirmed the closure on July 21, 2025. Co-founder Miri Buckland stated that despite pivoting from a social collage app to a shoppable collage tool for creators, the business could not reach the necessary scale to remain viable as a VC-backed startup. This shutdown highlights the intense challenges faced by social media and creator economy startups in securing long-term profitability and investor support.

In early 2025, Detroit-based Rocket Companies, the parent of Rocket Mortgage, conducted a company-wide layoff affecting roughly 2% of its workforce. This translates to approximately 285 employees from a total of about 14,263. The cuts, which impacted roles in recruiting, product management, and software engineering, were attributed to streamlining efforts following the firm's $1.75 billion all-stock acquisition of real estate brokerage Redfin. The company stated the decision was part of a shift from deal-making to integration, aiming to build a more focused organization. Affected employees were offered a severance package including 12 weeks of base pay plus additional weeks based on tenure, extended health benefits, and career transition support.

Amazon on 2025-07-17.

In July 2025, Ami Colé, a venture-backed beauty brand focused on makeup for darker skin tones, announced it would permanently shut down by September. The company, which had raised over $3 million from investors like G9 Ventures and Greycroft, cited unsustainable market conditions and tensions between founder Diarrha NDiaye-Mbaye and investor expectations. Despite early success and celebrity endorsements, the four-year-old startup struggled with inconsistent retail sales and competition from larger brands. The closure reflects broader challenges for Black-founded startups that surged after 2020, as investor enthusiasm for diversity-focused ventures waned.

Israeli telehealth startup TytoCare is laying off approximately 35 employees, representing about 20% of its 160-person workforce, as part of a restructuring announced in July 2025. This marks the company's second round of layoffs since 2023. The move aims to streamline operations and redirect investment toward advancing its FDA-approved, AI-driven diagnostic capabilities. Concurrently, CEO and co-founder Dedi Gilad will transition to the chairman role, focusing on long-term strategy, while co-founder Ofer Tzadik will oversee daily operations. The company, which has raised $205 million, is also adjusting its sales model to focus its home-use product in the U.S. via partners.

Y-Combinator-backed AI startup CodeParrot has shut down, resulting in layoffs for its entire team, including two engineers, as the company ceased operations. Founded in 2022 by Vedant Agarwala and Royal Jain, the developer-focused SaaS tool aimed to convert Figma designs into production-ready code using AI. Despite raising $500,000, the startup struggled with excessive burn rate and failed to secure further VC investment, reaching only $1,500 in monthly recurring revenue. After multiple pivots and a year in beta, the founders announced the shutdown in early 2024, citing the challenges of sustaining business in the competitive AI industry. CodeParrot is the second AI-focused SaaS startup to close recently, following subtl.ai.

Scale AI is laying off 200 employees, approximately 14% of its staff, and cutting ties with 500 global contractors. The layoffs are largely in its core data-labeling business, as the company pivots to focus on enterprise and government sales units, following Meta's investment and the departure of its CEO.

Lenovo laid off 100 employees representing approximately 3% of its workforce on 2025-07-16.

Jamf laid off 166 employees representing approximately 6% of its workforce on 2025-07-15.

Fashion quick commerce startup Blip has shut down just over a year after launching, resulting in the layoff of its entire team. The bootstrapped company, which operated in Bengaluru with a model promising 30-minute delivery of apparel from multiple brands, faced a critical shortage of capital that prevented expansion beyond its initial city. Co-founder Ansh Agarwal cited limited working capital and inefficient go-to-market execution as key reasons for the closure. Founded in 2024 and often described as "Zepto for fashion," Blip had aimed to scale using an omnichannel approach but ultimately could not sustain operations. The shutdown highlights the competitive and capital-intensive nature of the quick commerce fashion industry, where several well-funded competitors continue to operate.

Intel, the major semiconductor company, has significantly expanded its layoffs, now exceeding 5,000 employees across the United States as of mid-July 2025. This downsizing, part of a broader restructuring to reduce costs and simplify operations, more than doubled initial estimates in key locations. The cuts are concentrated in California and Oregon, affecting over 1,900 workers in Santa Clara and Folsom, and nearly 2,400 in Hillsboro. Additional layoffs occurred in Arizona and Texas. The company, aiming to become leaner and more efficient, began implementing these workforce reductions in July 2025.

TripleLift, a supply-side platform in the ad tech industry, laid off a double-digit percentage of its workforce, estimated at less than 20%, on Friday, July 11, 2025. The company, which had over 450 employees as of April, is undergoing restructuring under new CEO Dave Helmreich, who took over in February. This marks the third round of layoffs in five years, with pressure from majority shareholder Vista Equity Partners likely driving cost-cutting measures to boost profitability. The timing aligns with past leadership transitions, similar to cuts made under the previous CEO in early 2023.

Israeli industrial AI unicorn Augury is laying off about 60 employees, representing 18% of its global workforce of 345, as announced in July 2025. This marks the company's third round of layoffs, following previous cuts affecting around 100 staff. Despite raising $75 million in a Series F round just months earlier in February, which valued the company at over $1 billion, Augury stated the restructuring is intended to sharpen its focus and fuel its next growth phase. The Haifa-based company, which provides AI-driven machine health monitoring solutions to manufacturing plants, has seen significant revenue growth and customer expansion but is now adjusting its organizational structure to prioritize new roles and maintain its market leadership trajectory.

Indeed + Glassdoor laid off 1,300 employees on 2025-07-10.

Eigen Labs laid off 29 employees representing approximately 25% of its workforce on 2025-07-08.

Israeli fintech company Nayax is laying off 70 employees, representing 6% of its global workforce of 1,100 people. This first major round of layoffs, announced in July 2025, comes despite strong financial performance, including a 60% stock surge and record quarterly profits. The company, which provides digital payment solutions for self-service retail and is valued around $1.79 billion, stated the cuts are part of an operational efficiency drive. The move highlights a trend of restructuring within the tech industry even amid revenue growth, as Nayax integrates recent acquisitions and aims to streamline its operations.

GenAI enterprise tech startup Subtl AI has shut down after failing to secure additional funding, leading to the layoff of its entire team. The company, which launched in 2019 and employed around 10-15 people, was unable to raise a targeted $1 million seed round. CEO Vishnu Ramesh announced the closure in early July 2024, citing an inability to raise fresh capital, a lack of market focus, and infrastructure go-to-market challenges as key reasons. Operating in the competitive generative AI industry, this small-scale startup had previously raised $200,000 and aimed to build a "Private Google for enterprises" but ultimately could not sustain operations.

TikTok has conducted its third round of layoffs for the TikTok Shop US team since April, but has not disclosed the number of jobs impacted. The layoffs are part of restructuring efforts as TikTok Shop US, the company's e-commerce retailer launched less than two years ago, faces challenges despite being TikTok's fastest-growing business.

Nigerian fintech startup Okra has shut down operations in May 2025, resulting in the layoff of its entire workforce. The company, which had raised over $16.5 million and was a pioneer in open banking in Africa, faced insurmountable financial challenges. A steep rise in cloud infrastructure costs, driven by Nigeria's currency depreciation, consumed most of its revenue. This led to a strategic pivot toward offering its own cloud product, Nebula, but ultimately the company could not sustain operations. The shutdown marks the end of a five-year journey for the startup, which had integrated with major banks across the continent.

Microsoft announced layoffs affecting approximately 9,000 employees on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, marking another significant workforce reduction for the tech giant. This cut represents less than 4% of its global workforce, which stood at 228,000 people as of June 2024. The move is part of ongoing organizational changes aimed at streamlining management layers and positioning the company for success in a dynamic marketplace, particularly within its gaming division. This follows several previous rounds of layoffs in recent years, including a cut of over 6,000 jobs in May 2025. Despite these reductions, Microsoft remains highly profitable, having reported strong quarterly earnings and record stock prices, as it continues to focus on growth areas like Azure cloud services.

TomTom laid off 300 employees representing approximately 10% of its workforce on 2025-06-30.

Rivian, the electric vehicle manufacturer, has laid off approximately 140 employees, representing about 1% of its workforce, as part of ongoing efforts to improve operational efficiency ahead of the 2026 launch of its more affordable R2 SUV. The cuts, confirmed in late June 2025, primarily affected the manufacturing team, with the company citing the elimination of roles that created process inefficiencies. This follows previous workforce reductions in recent years. Rivian, which began 2025 with over 14,800 employees in North America and Europe, is encouraging affected staff to apply for other open positions within the company.

Bumble, the dating app company, is laying off approximately 240 employees, which represents 30% of its workforce. This significant restructuring, announced in a securities filing, is part of an effort to reconfigure its operating structure and optimize strategic priorities. The move is expected to result in $13 million to $18 million in charges this year but will save the company about $40 million annually. These savings are intended to be reinvested into new product and technology development. The announcement comes as Bumble's market value has sharply declined since its 2021 IPO, and follows the return of founder Whitney Wolfe Herd to the CEO role earlier this year. The layoffs were disclosed alongside an updated, slightly improved revenue forecast for the current quarter.

Vancouver-based AI software startup Klue laid off approximately 85 employees, representing just over 40 percent of its workforce, in a major restructuring on June 25. The company, which provides AI-powered competitive intelligence tools, is contending with rising competition from businesses using DIY AI solutions like OpenAI's ChatGPT, leading to missed revenue targets and increased customer churn. CEO Jason Smith cited the need to become an "AI-first" operation and hasten the path to profitability as key reasons, noting that AI acts both as a competitive threat and an internal efficiency driver. The layoffs, which included voluntary departures, are part of a broader consolidation of engineering operations in Canada and a reduction in compute spending.

Microsoft on 2025-06-24.

Intel on 2025-06-24.