Gizmodo’s
reporting is accurate, the mass layoffs would mark the second staff reduction SoundHound has undertaken in less than a year. In November, the company reportedlyA trio of former employees who spoke todescribed a “pitiful” severance package contingent on the company raising more money. They claim the package includes no healthcare and only two weeks of severance. The company did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment.
, the firm has raised more than $300 million to date. SoundHound customers include Pandora, Mercedes-Benz and Snap., SoundHound CEO and co-founder Keyvan Mohajer blamed the layoffs on 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.