Just a day after receiving funds to the tune of $500 million, Cohere, the GenAI model startup based out of Toronto, Canada, has cut about 20 jobs. That means, five per cent of the artificial intelligence (AI) firm’s 400-strong workforce will be rendered jobless.
What is surprising is that the move came right after a new funding round at a $5.5 billion valuation. However, Aidan Gomez, CEO, Cohere, reportedly maintains that hiring will continue at the company which offers competition to OpenAI, as well as Meta, Mistral and Anthropic. In fact, Gomez expects to double the workforce strength this year, as the business is growing. Open positions will also be backfilled, while more talent will be hired for areas that have become priority.
Gomez is reported to have called this round of layoffs necessary so that the most suitable people are retained in the right roles to be able to fight competition. He also reportedly admitted that the fresh infusion of capital has opened up a new roadmap full of opportunities and hope.
There is no official confirmation of the severance being offered to the impacted employees from across departments.
Posting a revenue of about $35 million in March 2024, Cohere’s valuation has doubled over a period of a year or so. With support from big names including Cisco, Nvidia and Fujitsu, Cohere will use the fresh funds to expand its teams and improve on its enterprise-grade products.
