Soundhound, an AI voice company SoundHound, has reportedly laid off half of its workforce
SoundHound, the company who once stated it wanted to The market leader in AI voice has reported that it has cut half of its workforce. According to As part of a restructuring process, about 200 employees were laid off by the company last week. If Gizmodo’s If the reporting is correct, this mass layoff would be SoundHound’s second in less than one year. The company reported that it had laid off a further 132 employees in November. . SoundHound employed about 450 people before the initial round of cuts.
A trio of ex-employees spoke to Gizmodo described a “pitiful” severance package contingent on the company raising more money. The package does not include healthcare and two weeks of severance. The company did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. SoundCloud was made public by a special-purpose acquisition firm in the early 2022. Data from To date, the company has raised more that $300 million. SoundHound customers are Pandora, Mercedes-Benz, and Snap.
In an email that was received by GizmodoSoundHound CEO Keyvan Mohajer and co-founder of the company, attributed the layoffs to recent macroeconomic conditions. “When we set course in early 2021 to become publicly listed, high-tech companies like SoundHound were the darlings of the investor community. Companies who could achieve high growth, despite high costs, were seen as engines of a future economy, ” he wrote. “However, as a result of changing economic conditions, including high interest rates, rising inflation, and fears of recession, companies with our profile became much less desirable.” Mohajer reportedly went on to add investors “were concerned” SoundHound did “not have the heart to let go of its people.”
Mass layoffs at tech companies have been frequent in recent months. Facebook parent Meta cut approximately 1.8 million employees in November. This was a decision that led to more than 11,000 job losses. Amazon has been a major player in recent years. expanded the scope More than 18,000 employees are affected by its company-wide layoffs.