It couldn’t last forever. Anyone with an inkling of how the markets work could have told us that. We are talking, of course, about the tech boom and the valuations that have stunned the industry as the seeming never-ending money train created unicorns, decacorns and even hectacorns.And then things began to turn. But that’s life, as Sinatra once sang. The tech industry had to have its time to suffer as the rest of them already had.
Cork-based artificial intelligence company Altada appears to be the latest to feel the effect of ill winds. Founded by Allan Beechinor in 2017, the company looked set to be the next Irish unicorn, joining a growing number of tech businesses here that have reached a $1 billion valuation. Last September, the company raised $11.5 million and said it planned to create up to 100 jobs in addition to the more than 70 people it already employed.