It used to go by at least two different names — Oculus Connect and then Facebook Connect — but whatever the moniker, Meta’s fall event is still a big showcase for the company’s latest and greatest achievements in the virtual reality and mixed reality space. Much like last year, we can likely predict the biggest news coming out of Meta Connect 2024 with just two acronyms: AI and AR.

Like every other big tech firm this year, Meta will be desperate to demonstrate how it plans to stay relevant in a future powered by AI. And now that we’re seven months beyond the launch of Apple’s Vision Pro, which arrived alongside a short-lived spike in interest in augmented reality (AR), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is likely eager to show off his own plans to make AR a reality.

While Zuckerberg isn’t as hot on the metaverse as he was when he renamed his company, the union of AI and AR is one way he can still make the dream of persistent virtual worlds come true. It might look less like Ready Player One, but if AR glasses actually take off, they could still let Meta control another piece of our digital world. And to help get them there, delivering an updated inexpensive VR headset couldn’t hurt.

With all of that in mind, here are a few things we expect to see at Meta Connect 2024, which kicks off virtually on September 25 and runs for two days.

Orion AR glasses

After reportedly killing a pricey next-generation mixed reality headset, which was meant to compete with the Apple Vision Pro, Meta is instead focusing on a pair of augmented reality glasses, codenamed Orion, as its next innovation. As seen in the background of one Mark Zuckerberg photo (above), and later somewhat confirmed by him, Orion resembles a pair of chunky hipster frames.

Unlike the Quest 3, which fully consumes your vision and uses cameras to show you a low-quality view of the world, Orion could let you see the real world like a normal pair of glasses. But, like Magic Leap and Microsoft’s HoloLens before it, Meta’s glasses could layer holographic imagery on top of your reality. The key difference, of course, is that it appears to be far less cumbersome than those devices.

“The glasses are, I think, going to be a big deal,” Zuckerberg said in an interview on the Blueprint Podcast (via RoadtoVR). “We’re almost ready to start showing the prototype version of the full holographic glasses. We’re not going to be selling it broadly; we’re focused on building the full consumer version rather than selling the prototype.”

Back at Meta Connect 2022, Zuckerberg showed off how the company was thinking of AR glasses, together with an intriguing wrist-based controller:

“It’s probably our most exciting prototype that we’ve had to date,” Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth told The Verge last year. “I might get myself in trouble for saying this: I think it might be the most advanced piece of technology on the planet in its domain. In the domain of consumer electronics, it might be the most advanced thing that we’ve ever produced as a species.”

According to a leaked Meta roadmap, the company plans to release a new pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses next year which would add a small built-in screen alongside its existing camera, speaker and microphone. That would be followed by Meta’s first pair of consumer AR glasses in 2027. It makes sense that we’ll see some sort of concept device this year. Much like Apple’s Vision Pro was effectively that company’s version of an AR/VR concept car to introduce developers to its notion of “spatial computing,” Meta will need to give developers a way to use its platform so they can build their own AR experiences. Competitor Snap just debuted its fifth-generation AR Spectacles, and this version is oriented at developers (with a $99/month subscription fee).

A cheaper Quest 3 variant

Instead of an upgraded headset, all signs point to Meta releasing a stripped-down version of the Quest 3 called the Quest 3S, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Recent leaked images from Meta’s own Quest Link application has confirmed the headset’s existence. According to Gurman, the company is aiming to make it much cheaper than the current version, reportedly considering price points of $300 or $400, while still delivering an experience close to the Quest 3.

The latest leak suggests it’ll start at just $299. A user shared a clip of an Amazon ad reportedly shown on Peacock that features the Quest 3S, complete with a price and storage (h/t ). Per the ad, the 128GB Quest 3S will cost $299, but there may be other storage options as well. It could potentially replace the Quest 2, which remains in the product line priced at $299 long after its 2020 release.

So why would Meta do this? There’s a huge performance gap between the Quest 3 and Quest 2, which makes life difficult for developers. With a cheaper device that’s similar to the Quest 3, potentially using the same processor, it would be easier to build games that can scale across two price points. According to Bloomberg’s Gurman, Meta has also considered releasing some models of the new headset without any bundled controllers, which would push the price down even further.

More AI, of course

Expect Meta to show off even more ways it’s taking advantage of AI across its Quest headsets and the Ray-Ban smart glasses. The company rolled out multi-modal AI search capabilities on those glasses in January, which allowed you to ask the Meta AI about objects or landmarks you were looking at, or for a quick translation. Based on our testing, though, those features were surprisingly half-baked.

Meta will likely discuss ways it’s improving those existing features by implementing its Llama 3.1 large language model (LLM), which it’s positioning as an open source competitor to Google and OpenAI’s LLMs. In particular, the company notes that Llama 3.1 offers dramatically improved translation, math and general knowledge capabilities. There’s certainly room for Meta to introduce new AI capabilities powered by Llama 3.1 in the Ray-Ban smart glasses, but given their limited processing power and battery life, we’ll probably have to wait for an updated model before we see anything truly groundbreaking.

Karissa Bell contributed to this report.

The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the first months of 2024. Smaller-sized startups have also seen a fair amount of cuts, and in some cases, have shut down operations altogether.

By tracking these layoffs, we’re able to understand the impact on innovation across companies large and small. We’re also able to see the potential impact of businesses embracing AI and automation for jobs that had previously been considered safe. It also serves as a reminder of the human impact of layoffs and what could be at stake in regards to increased innovation.

Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of all the known layoffs in tech that have occurred in 2024, to be updated regularly. If you have a tip on a layoff, contact us here. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact us here.

September 2024

Qualcomm

Will lay off 226 workers in San Diego later this year, according to a California WARN notice. The decision comes less than a year after the chipmaker let go of more than 1,250 workers. 

Udemy

Will reduce its headcount in a new restructuring effort, impacting roughly 280 employees. The company says that half of those affected by the cuts would be rehired, particularly if they work in lower cost markets.

Amperity

Will lay off 13% of its workforce. The company previously laid off 20 employees earlier this year, in addition to two other workforce reductions in 2023.

Cisco

Is reducing its headcount by 7%, impacting around 5,600 employees. The cuts follow another layoff round from the company this year, in which 4,000 employees were impacted.

Microsoft

Is laying off around 650 employees in its gaming division. The layoffs come eight months after the gaming division faced 1,900 job cuts after Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard.

Nori 

Has shut down its operations citing a “tough funding environment,” co-founder Alexsandra Guerra announced on LinkedIn.

Bending Spoons

Will lay off 75% of WeTransfer’s staff. Bending Spoons acquired the file transfer service in July for an undisclosed amount.

Goop

Is laying off 18% of its 216-person staff as the company shifts its focus to its beauty and food brands and deprioritize other areas like wellness and travel. 

Fly.io

Has reportedly laid off around 40 employees in what appears to be a restructuring effort for the company.

Motif FoodWorks

Is reportedly shutting down its operations following a lengthy litigation battle with competitor Impossible Foods.

August 2024

Character.AI

Reportedly cut at least 5% of its staff in its marketing and recruiting departments.

Apple

Is reportedly cutting around 100 jobs in its digital services group, potentially impacting workers in the company’s Books and News teams.

Brave

Has laid off 27 employees across the different departments, TechCrunch has learned. The cuts impact roughly 14% of the web browser and search startup’s total staff.

Scale AI

Reportedly terminated more than 1,000 remote contract workers. The company did not categorize the cuts as layoffs and says full-time employees have not been impacted.

Skip the Dishes

Is cutting 100 workers in Canada and 700 working for its parent company, Just Eat Takeaway.com, CEO Paul Burns announced on LinkedIn.

GoPro

Will reduce its total workforce by about 15% before the end of the year as part of a major restructuring effort. The cuts will impact around 139 workers.

Retention.com

Laid off 40% of its staff, CEO Adam Robinson wrote on LinkedIn, impacting 15 employees.

Loop

Is conducting layoffs as the company goes through a “strategic shift” in priorities. The number of employees affected is currently unknown.

Inuitive

Is cutting 20% of its workforce, affecting around 80 employees. Inuitive CEO Shlomo Gadot is also stepping down from the company.

Formlabs

Has laid off a “small number” of employees, the company exclusively confirmed to TechCrunch. The 3D printing firm says the cuts occurred over the past two years and impact 40 employees out of its less than 750-person staff.

Sonos

CEO Patrick Spence confirmed with TechCrunch the company cut 100 employees in a new layoff round, impacting 6% of Sonos’ workforce. Sonos previously reduced its headcount by 7% in 2023.

Cisco

Will reportedly eliminate thousands of jobs in another round of layoffs this year. The company previously laid off more than 4,000 employees in February 2024.

Tally

Has shut down its operations “after exploring all options” before running out of cash. The fintech previously helped users manage and pay off their credit card debt; it had 183 employees and was last valued at $855 million. 

Branch.io

Has laid off more than 100 employees. Nova Launcher, which was acquired by Branch in 2022, said the cuts whittled down its team to one full-time developer.

READY Robotics

Has reportedly stopped its operations. The company is now auctioning off equipment through the Silicon Valley Disposition.

Eventbrite

Is cutting around 100 employees, accounting for 11% of its total workforce. The online ticketing company previously let go of 8% of its employees in February 2023.

LegalZoom

Announced it will reduce its global workforce by 15% and pause future hiring efforts in an effort to save $25 million.

Techstars

Is laying off 17% of its staff and ending its $80 million J.P. Morgan-backed programs at the end of this year following a rocky period for the company that has included financial losses and leadership shakeups.

Mobius

Will completely shut down operations after facing financial struggles. The Kenya-based SUV manufacturer reportedly cited tax hikes as a driving force of the decision.

Infineon

Will cut 1,400 jobs globally, including hundreds of roles at its German plant. The company said it will also relocate an additional 1,400 employees to countries with lower labor costs.

Jam City

Has eliminated around 85 employees, affecting 10% of the video game developer and publisher’s total workforce.

Dell

Will conduct layoffs as the company plans to get “leaner,” according to an internal memo, and create a new sales unit focused on AI products and services. The number of employees impacted is currently unknown.

Intel

Intel kicked off the month with substantial layoffs, with 15,000 employees accounting for 15% of its total staff affected by the company’s cutbacks. “Our revenues have not grown as expected — and we’ve yet to fully benefit from powerful trends, like AI,” CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a memo announcing the layoffs.

July 2024

Rad Power Bikes

The e-bike startup that has raised more than $300 million from investors has also conducted five rounds of layoffs since April 2021, with TechCrunch exclusively learning that Red Power’s most recent layoffs were conducted in July with an unknown number of Rad Power’s roughly 394 employees impacted.

Match Group

Has discontinued livestreaming services across its dating apps, specifically Plenty of Fish and BLK, as it shifts its focus to generative AI. The move will result in a 6% reduction in its total workforce.

Bungie

Will cut 220 employees, representing around 17% of the game studio’s total workforce. CEO Pete Parsons said the changes impact all levels of the company, including senior and executive leadership.

Pocket FM

Has reportedly eliminated roles for nearly 200 U.S. writers a month after the company partnered with ElevenLabs to quickly convert scripts into audio content using AI.

WayCool Foods

Has reportedly laid off more than 200 employees across several departments. It would be the agritech company’s third substantial layoff round in the past year.

Webflow

Announced it will eliminate roughly 8% of its workforce as the company works toward its “next phase of growth.”

Cohere

Is reportedly laying off about 20 employees, accounting for nearly 5% of its total workforce. The cuts came the day after the company announced it raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation.

Magic Leap

Reportedly eliminated around 75 of its workers. As part of the cuts, the augmented reality startup reportedly axed its sales and marketing departments entirely.

Mercari

Is reportedly laying off nearly half of its employees in the U.S. as the Japan-based company struggles to compete with other e-commerce rivals like Temu.

Aqua

Is eliminating 50 employees, accounting for 10% of its total workforce. Earlier this year, the cybersecurity company raised $60 million at a $1 billion valuation, making it a unicorn.

EverC

Is reportedly laying off 10% of its 165-person workforce. The company develops cyber intelligence software that helps prevent online fraud.

Lex

Has laid off the majority of its roughly eight-person staff as the LGBTQ+ social networking site struggles to monetize its product. Last year, the company’s third, Lex raised $5.6 million in seed funding and elevated co-founder Jennifer Lewis from COO to CEO.

Monarch Tractor

Cut “less than” 15% of its 250- to 300-person workforce as part of a necessary reshuffling following a $133 million Series C funding round, TechCrunch has learned.

Kaspersky

Will lay off dozens of employees and leave the U.S. market completely following a U.S. government order that banned the sale of the company’s software due to security risks.

Salesforce

Eliminated about 300 employees in its workforce as it rolls out a broader effort to cut costs and streamline its operations.

Intuit

Will cut 1,800 employees, impacting 10% of its workforce. The company says more than half were cut due to low performance and aims to hire approximately the same number of employees instead of cutting costs.

UiPath

Plans to cut 420 jobs, 10% of its total workforce, as the company undergoes a large restructuring effort.

UKG

Cut an estimated 2,200 employees, amounting to nearly 14% of its workforce, as the software company attempts to redirect its resources into “key areas of product innovation.”

OpenText​​

Plans to cut roughly 1,200 jobs, amounting to almost 2% of its total workforce, as the information management company plans to significantly reduce its expenses by 2025.

Unacademy

Is laying off about 250 employees in the latest in a series of job cuts after schools reopened across India following pandemic lockdowns.

Koo

Is ceasing its operations after its last-resort acquisition talks with Dailyhunt collapsed.

Upside Foods

Has cut its workforce by 26 people, CEO Uma Valeti wrote in an email to staff, as the lab-grown meat industry sees a decline in VC funding.

Sightful

Is eliminating 20 employees, amounting to a third of its total workforce, as the company shifts its focus to software development.

June 2024

RealPage

Will cut approximately 4% of its workforce as part of a plan to boost growth, though the company is also one of many within its field facing a consolidated lawsuit alleging they engaged in price fixing.

Planet

Intends to lay off roughly 180 employees, amounting to 17% of its workforce, according to an SEC filing that amounts to its second recent round of layoffs.

Moxion Power

Is laying off more than 100 employees, according to a WARN filing. The news of the cuts comes after the company launched a large office expansion in Richmond, California.

eBay

Is reportedly conducting layoffs in Israel as it goes through a global restructuring.

BeReal

Is reportedly cutting a large number of its staff after being acquired by French gaming company Voodoo.

Flutterwave

Has laid off about 30 people, accounting for 3% of its workforce, as it refocuses its business to enterprise.

Ginkgo Bioworks

Terminated 158 employees, with another batch of layoffs expected to come as the company aims to reduce its workforce by 25%.

Moovit

Is making cuts to 10% of its workforce, impacting around 20 to 25 employees.

Wex

Is laying off 375 employees, accounting for 5% of its total workforce.

PayPal

Will eliminate up to 85 employees based in Ireland, the company announced.

Rapyd

Is reportedly laying off around 30 employees in Israel and will move positions to other regions to cut costs.

C2FO

Cut 16 employees in its supplier resource management department as it focuses on automation.

Chegg

Is reducing its global headcount by 23% in a major restructuring effort as the online learning platform aims to become a “leaner” operation.

StackPath

Is closing up shop and liquidating its assets. The number of employees affected is currently unknown.

Unit

Is reducing its headcount by 15% as the company attempts to “think in longer time frames,” the company announced in a blog post.

Loop

Is making more cuts, co-CEO Carey Anne Nadeau announced on LinkedIn. The number of employees impacted is currently unknown.

Care/of

Will lay off its 143 employees by July 3 due to a “funding loss,” and will no longer be accepting new orders. The company has not shut down fully though, telling TechCrunch: “We are actively exploring options for the brand but do not have anything definitive to communicate at this time.”

Running Tide

Shut down its operations and laid off its remaining employees after raising more than $50 million since its 2017 start.

Satellogic

Is laying off 70 employees, about 30% of its workforce, three weeks after an earlier round of cuts impacted 34 employees.

ByteDance

Is slashing around 450 jobs at its Indonesian e-commerce division, accounting for 9% of the unit. 

VRChat

Has eliminated around 30% of its total workforce, CEO Graham Gaylor confirmed in a statement.

Paytm

Is reportedly conducting large cuts across the company. The total number of employees impacted is currently unknown.

Kissflow

Has cut around 45 jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

Copia Global

Has laid off at least 1,060 employees two weeks after the startup filed for administration.

Revel

Is laying off its 1,000+ staff drivers as it embraces a gig worker model similar to that of Lyft and Uber.

Simpl

Has cut 30 employees a month after the Bengaluru-based startup laid off 160 people.

Oda

Has confirmed layoffs of 150 jobs as it drastically scales back its expansion ambitions to focus on its markets in Norway and Sweden.

Pagaya

Is laying off 100 workers, or 20% of its staff, in another round of cuts.

MoonPay

Is reportedly laying off 10% of its workforce, amounting to around 30 people.

Microsoft

Is reportedly cutting hundreds of employees working in its Azure cloud business, though the exact number of employees impacted is currently unknown.

OrCam

Is laying off 100 employees months after reducing its headcount by 50 workers.

Google

Is reportedly making large cuts globally across several of its Cloud teams, including teams focused on sustainability, consulting and partner engineering.

Tropic

Is eliminating 40 employees as part of a restructuring effort, CEO David Campbell wrote in a post on LinkedIn. 

May 2024

Gro Intelligence

Is shutting down its operations after laying off 60% of its staff in March in an attempt to stay afloat.

Jasper Health

Has laid off a substantial part of its workforce, TechCrunch learned. Engineering and product design departments were most impacted by the cuts at the cancer care platform startup.

Cirium

Is laying off 37 tech workers at FlightStats, the flight tracking startup it acquired in 2016, as it plans to consolidate its operations in India and the U.K.

Walnut

Is cutting 15 employees in a round of layoffs, impacting 20% of the Israeli startup’s total workforce.

Fisker

Has laid off hundreds of employees in a bid to keep the EV startup alive. One current and one laid off employee told TechCrunch exclusively that an estimated 150 people remain at the company.

Cue Health

Is shutting down its operations and laying off the rest of its staff. The COVID-19 test company laid off half of its workforce earlier this month to cut costs.

Foursquare

Has let go of 105 employees as the company seeks to “streamline” its operations, according to an email to staffers from current CEO Gary Little.

Lucid Motors

Is laying off about 400 employees, roughly 6% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring ahead of the launch of its first electric SUV later this year.

TikTok

Will reportedly make large cuts to its global operations and marketing teams. The amount of employees impacted is currently unknown.

Pixar

Will reportedly cut 14% of its staff, impacting 175 employees, as the company shifts its focus from original Disney+ programming back to films.

Replit

Let go of 20% of its staff as the coding startup shifts its focus to enterprise sales.

SeekOut

Cut about 30% of its total workforce. The recruiting startup that uses AI to find candidates was last valued at over $1.2 billion in January 2022.

Gopuff

Eliminated 6% of its staff in another round of layoffs as the fast-delivery startup attempts to become cash-flow positive by the end of 2024.

Atmosphere

Plans to lay off 106 employees, according to a WARN notice filed in Texas. 

Mainvest

Has shut down its operations. The number of employees affected is currently unknown.

Indeed

Is cutting roughly 1,000 jobs, impacting 8% of the company’s headcount, CEO Chris Hyams wrote in a letter to staff.

Motional

Cut around 40% of its workforce, impacting about 550 employees, sources told TechCrunch. The company’s chief operating officer, Abe Ghabra, has also left the company.

Google

Will eliminate 57 positions in San Francisco, according to a WARN notice filed in California.

Vacasa

Is eliminating 800 employees, accounting for 13% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring effort.

Brilliant

Told The Verge it has laid off most of its staff and is no longer selling its smart home controllers and light switches as it looks for a buyer.

Enovix

Laid off roughly 170 workers, impacting a third of its total headcount, in an effort to cut back on annual operating costs. 

Microsoft

Closed Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and more game studios as part of cuts at Bethesda. It’s currently unclear how many employees will be impacted.

Cue Health

Is eliminating 230 employees, about 49% of its workforce, in a cost cutting measure laid out in documents filed with the U.S. SEC.

Luminar

Is slashing its workforce by 20%. The cuts will affect around 140 employees, and the company is also cutting ties with “the majority” of its contract workers.

Sprinklr

Has laid off about 3% of its workforce, impacting 116 people, the company confirmed to TechCrunch in a statement. The cuts come over a year after the company eliminated about 4% of its headcount.

Peloton

Is laying off 15% of its workforce, affecting about 400 people, as part of a cost-cutting effort. The company’s CEO Barry McCarthy is also stepping down.

April 2024

Tesla

Has gutted its charging team in a new round of layoffs, CEO Elon Musk announced in an overnight email to executives.

Google

Has laid off staff across key teams like Flutter, Dart and Python. It is currently unclear how many employees were let go.

Fisker

Is laying off more employees to “preserve cash,” according to an internal email viewed by TechCrunch. The number of cuts is currently unknown.

Getir

Is shutting down operations in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe, impacting at least 6,000 jobs across the closing markets.

Ola

Is cutting about 180 jobs in a profitability push and has let go its chief executive Hemant Bakshi, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

True Anomaly

The space and defense startup laid off nearly 30 people, accounting for about 25% of its workforce, due to “duplication of roles and functions across the company,” TechCrunch exclusively reported.

Expedia

Is expected to cut employees in its Austin office for the second time this year.

Nike

Plans to eliminate 740 employees at its Oregon headquarters this summer, according to a WARN Act notice.

Stability AI

Is eliminating 10% of its workforce following the exit of former CEO Emad Mostaque.

Google

Is laying off workers as part of continued cost cutting measures. The number of employees affected was at the time unknown.

Rivian

Is reducing its total workforce by 1%. It’s the second round of layoffs for the EV maker this year.

Take-Two

Is laying off 5% of its workforce, affecting around 579 employees. The GTA 6 publisher also announced the elimination of “several projects” in development.

Tome

Is eliminating about 20% of its 59 employees in a restructuring effort.

Tesla

Is cutting “more than 10%” of its global workforce, per an internal email sent by CEO Elon Musk. That could impact more than 14,000 workers worldwide, as Tesla prepares itself “for our next phase of growth” amid a challenging EV market.

Criteo

Is reducing its global workforce by nearly 4%, impacting up to 140 employees.

TikTok

Is laying off 250 employees based in Ireland as it restructures its Training and Quality team.

Hinge Health

Cut approximately 10% of its workforce, TechCrunch exclusively learned, as the company prepares for an IPO and aims to reach profitability.

Checkr

Has laid off 382 employees, amounting to 32% of its total workforce, TechCrunch exclusively learned. The background-screening platform was last valued at $5 billion in April of 2022.

Bolt.Earth

Reportedly laid off a sizable part of its staff in a restructuring effort. The number of employees impacted is currently unknown, but sources told Inc42 that it could be “in the range of 70-100” workers.

Apple

Is laying off 614 employees in California after abandoning its electric car project, according to a WARN notice.

Agility Robotics

Has laid off a “small number” of employees as part of a company-wide focus on commercialization efforts.

Ghost Autonomy

Shut down operations. The company, which was backed by OpenAI, employed about 100 people.

Whirlpool

Is shutting down Yummly, the recipe and cooking app it acquired in 2017.

AWS

Will cut hundreds of jobs across Sales, Marketing, Global Services and its Physical Stores Technology team.

Byju’s

Is laying off about 500 employees, accounting for 3% of its total workforce, as part of a restructuring effort.

March 2024

Reliance

Reliance, largest conglomerate in India, took its time in announcing it had laid off more than 42,000 people in its fiscal year, which ended in March. That significant number accounted for 11% of its workforce, and another 143,000 employees took “voluntary separations” in the same time.

ChowNow

Has laid off 20% of its staff after acquiring point-of-sale platform Cuboh. The company previously laid off 100 people in 2022.

Nintendo of America

Is restructuring its testing department, which is largely made up of contractors. A Nintendo spokesperson told Kotaku the changes will end some assignments but will lead to the creation of new full-time positions.

Dell

Cut its global workforce by about 6,000 jobs, according to a 10-K SEC filing. The filing reveals the company cut 13,000 jobs in the last year.

Synctera

Has made cuts to its staff, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. A report in Fintech Business Weekly estimates that 17 people, or about 15% of the company, were impacted. 

ShopBack

Is cutting 195 roles in an effort to become more sustainable, CEO Henry Chan wrote in a blog post. The layoffs impact nearly a quarter of its staff.

Airmeet

Reportedly eliminated 20% of its total workforce in its second restructuring effort in the past year.

Chipper Cash

Conducted another round of layoffs impacting 20 employees, CEO Ham Serunjogi announced in a blog post. 

Textio

Has reportedly cut 16% of its staff in a strategic move to support its Textio Lift product. 

Stash

Is reportedly laying off around 25% of its workforce. According to Axios, the cuts affect roughly 80 people.

Phantom Auto

Is shutting down after failing to secure new funding, TechCrunch has learned. The remote driving startup, which had cut staff last year, employed a little more than 100 people.

IBM

Is reportedly slashing its marketing and communications staff. The company previously announced a strategy to replace upwards of 8,000 jobs with AI.

Inscribe.ai

Cut just under 40% of its staff, equating to dozens of employees, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.

Turnitin

Laid off around 15 people earlier this year, following comments from CEO Chris Caren that the company would be able to reduce 20% of its headcount thanks to AI.

Sorare

Laid off 13% of its staff based in its New York office as the web3 fantasy sports platform focuses on its Paris headquarters, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

Melio

Is eliminating roughly 7% of its workforce as part of organizational restructuring. The fintech unicorn last conducted layoffs in August 2022.

ONE

Is cutting about 13% of its workforce, affecting 40 employees. It’s the second round of layoffs for the battery startup in recent months.

Project Ronin

Is shutting down, resulting in a “permanent mass layoff” impacting around 150 employees.

February 2024

Fisker

Plans to lay off 15% of its workforce and says it likely does not have enough cash on hand to survive the next 12 months.

EA

Cut 5% of its workforce, impacting 670 employees, as it moves away from the “development of future licensed IP.”

Bumble

Is letting go of about 350 employees, accounting for 30% of its workforce.

Apple

Is likely cutting hundreds of employees who worked on the company’s autonomous electric car project now that the effort has stopped, TechCrunch has learned.

Sony

Is laying off 900 employees from its PlayStation unit, affecting 8% of the division’s workforce. Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla and Firesprite studios will also be impacted.

Expedia

Will reportedly cut 1,500 roles in 2024, primarily in its Product & Technology division, accounting for more than 8% of the company’s workforce.

Finder

Eliminated roughly 60 employees, or 17% of its workforce. It’s the financial startup’s third major layoff round in the past 12 months.

Rivian

Is laying off 10% of its salaried workforce in a bid to cut costs in an increasingly tough market for EVs.

Meati Foods

Will lay off 13% of its workforce as it works to “build a financially sustainable business,” CEO Phil Graves told TechCrunch exclusively.

Cisco

Announced it will eliminate 5% of its employees, impacting more than 4,000 people.

Toast

Will lay off about 550 workers in a move designed to promote “operating expense efficiency.”

Instacart

Announced in an SEC filing that it will lay off roughly 250 employees as part of a restructuring effort.

Mozilla

Is scaling back its investment in a number of products, TechCrunch has learned, resulting in layoffs that will affect roughly 60 employees.

Grammarly

Is laying off 230 employees worldwide as part of the company’s efforts to advance its focus on “the AI-enabled workplace of the future.”

Getaround

Is cutting 30% of its North American workforce as part of a restructuring.

Amazon

Is reportedly cutting jobs in its healthcare businesses One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy. The number of impacted roles is currently unknown.

DocuSign

Announced plans to eliminate 6% of its workforce, largely impacting the company’s sales and marketing divisions.

Snap

Announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce, impacting roughly 500-plus employees, in an effort to “reduce hierarchy.”

Polygon Labs

Has laid off 60 employees, or about 19% of its staff, CEO Marc Boiron announced in a blog post.

Okta

Is laying off approximately 400 employees. The layoffs come almost exactly a year to the day after Okta announced plans to cut about 300 employees.

January 2024

Thinx

Will lay off 95 workers in New York City, according to a filing with the New York Department of Labor.

Proofpoint

Is laying off about 6% of its global workforce, or 280 employees, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.

Wattpad

Conducted another round of layoffs earlier this month, amounting to roughly 15% of its workforce, a source familiar with the situation told TechCrunch. 

Block

Is reportedly laying off around 1,000 people in the Cash App, foundational and Square arms of Block.

PayPal

Has reportedly begun company-wide layoffs. While it is unclear how many people will be affected, one source told TechCrunch it was expected to be in the “thousands.”

Aurora Solar

Has laid off 20% of its staff of about 1,000 people, TechCrunch exclusively learned. The cuts to the software startup come despite record growth in the solar industry last year.

iRobot

Is laying off 350 people, or one-third of its headcount, after Amazon’s bid to acquire the Roomba-maker shuttered. Longtime CEO Colin Angle has also stepped down.

Salesforce

Is reportedly laying off 700 workers, or around 1% of its staff. This comes after the company had a significant reduction of 10% of its workforce in 2023.

Flexport

Is reportedly planning to cut around 20% of its staff in the next few weeks. The company announced similar cuts in October, when founder Ryan Petersen returned as CEO and slashed its workforce by 20%.

Microsoft

Is laying off 1,900 employees across its gaming divisions following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Blizzard president Mike Ybarra announced he will also be stepping down.

Swiggy

Is cutting about 400 jobs, 7% of its workforce, as the food delivery startup seeks to bring further improvements to its finances ahead of a planned IPO later this year.

Aurora

Laid off dozens of workers, according to sources familiar with the decision. The autonomous vehicle technology company has since confirmed that about 3% of its workforce has been laid off.

eBay

Will lay off 9% of the company’s workforce, affecting about 1,000 full-time employees. In a blog post, the company also plans to cut contract roles in the coming months.

SAP

Announced it intends to offer voluntary buyouts or job changes to 8,000 employees amid restructuring.

Brex

Laid off 20% of its staff, affecting 282 workers. In a blog post, Co-CEO Pedro Franceschi said that the company is prioritizing “long-term thinking and ownership over short-term gains in our comp structure.”

TikTok

Eliminated around 60 jobs across the U.S. in Los Angeles, New York, and Austin in addition to layoffs in international markets. The affected roles, according to NPR’s initial reporting, are largely in sales and advertising.

Vroom

Is cutting 90% of its employees as it shuts down its online used car marketplace and shifts resources into two business units: one focused on auto financing and the other on AI-powered analytics.

Riot Games

Is laying off 11% of its workforce, affecting about 530 employees, as the company focuses on “fewer, high-impact projects.” The League of Legends maker is also sunsetting its five-year-old publishing group, Riot Forge.

Wayfair

Is eliminating 13% of its global workforce, affecting 1,650 employees, in a restructuring effort aimed at cutting layers of management.

YouTube

Will eliminate 100 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch, as part of a restructuring effort in its creator management and operations teams.

Google

Is laying off “hundreds” of employees in its advertising sales team, according to a leaked memo. The cuts come a week after the company did sweeping layoffs across its hardware teams. And more layoffs will come throughout the year, as CEO Sundar Pichai told the company in a memo obtained by the Verge.

Lost Boys Interactive

Reportedly laid off a “sizable” number of employees January 12. The game developer studio was acquired by Borderlands maker Gearbox in 2022.

Pixar

Is going to lay off employees in 2024, TechCrunch exclusively learned, with the total impacted employees potentially reaching as high as 20% of the animation studio’s 1,300 person workforce. The cutbacks come as Disney looks to reduce the studio’s output as it struggles to achieve profitability in streaming.

Audible

Is laying off 5% of its workforce, citing an “increasingly challenging landscape,” according to a leaked memo obtained by Business Insider.

Discord

Is laying off 17% of its staff, impacting 170 people. In an internal memo obtained by the Verge, Discord CEO Jason Citron blamed the cuts on the company growing too quickly.

Google

Laid off hundreds of employees across its Google Assistant division and the team that manages Pixel, Nest and Fitbit hardware. The company confirmed to TechCrunch that Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman are also exiting.

Amazon

Is laying off “several hundreds” of employees at Prime Video and MGM Studios, according to a memo obtained by TechCrunch. The cuts come days after the 500 layoffs at Amazon’s Twitch.

Twitch

Is reportedly laying off 500 employees, 35% of its current staff, amid a continued struggle to achieve profitability in the face of rising costs and community backlash. The pending layoffs come after hundreds more employees were laid off in 2023.

Treasure Financial

Confirmed to TechCunch that layoffs, conducted in December, had impacted 14 employees, accounting for 60% to 70% of the company, according to multiple sources.

Duolingo

Confirmed it cut 10% of its contractor workforce at the end of 2023 as it turns to AI to streamline content production and translations previously handled by humans.

Rent the Runway

Will cut about 10% of corporate roles as it goes through a restructuring plan following Anushka Salinas’ planned resignation as operating chief and president at the end of January.

Unity

Is reducing its workforce by about 25%, or 1,800 people. The video game engine maker went through three rounds of layoffs in 2023.

Pitch

Laid off two-thirds of its employees as the German startup, which built collaborative presentation software, looks to pursue a “completely different path.” CEO and co-founder Christian Reber also stepped down.

BenchSci

The AI and biomedical startup reportedly cut 17% of its workforce January 8, citing “shifts in the economic environment,” in a LinkedIn post announcing the layoffs. 

Flexe

Eliminated 38% of its staff January 8 as the online retail logistics company follows up after conducting layoffs in September 2023.

NuScale

Announced January 8 it is laying off 28% of its staff, or 154 workers, as the small modular nuclear reactor company shifts its focus to “key strategic areas.”

Trigo

Is reportedly laying off 15% of its workforce focused on computer vision for retailers.

InVision

Is shutting down at the end of 2024 after a 12 year run. The design collaboration startup was once valued at nearly $2B.

VideoAmp

Is laying off nearly 20% of its workforce as it tries to maintain its battle with Nielsen over media measurement. CEO Ross McCray stepped down from the company.

Orca Security

Is laying off roughly 15% of its staff, totaling 60 employees. The Israel-based unicorn reportedly plans to move some impacted employees into other positions at the company.

Frontdesk

Laid off its entire 200-person workforce January 2 after attempts to raise more capital failed, TechCrunch exclusively learned. The mass layoff comes just seven months after the startup acquired rival Zencity. 

Well, Apple kind of fooled us, didn’t it? The iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max are now here and there’s a public beta of Apple Intelligence to supercharge your new iPhone at launch.

Yes, the public beta isn’t as stable as the upcoming iOS 18.1 release next month, but I decided to install it on my brand new iPhone 16 Pro Max, and I’m impressed with the results so far.

The food revolution burst into the open in the early 2030s. Microbial processes were developed that allowed us to brew all the proteins we needed for our food without using animals, on a tiny fraction of the land, for less money. Such a disruptive technology hadn’t been seen since the industrial revolution.

The dairy industry was the first to collapse. Milk is mostly water, sugar and a bit of fat. Two kinds of proteins, casein and whey, make up…

Host Andrew Davidson is joined by technology, travel and consumer trend experts for a discussion about the 2023 Mintel Global Consumer Trend ‘Hyper Fatigue’. The trend predicts that instead of trying to keep up with technology, consumers will be tempted to give up entirely and return to the ease of tactile pleasures. As the pandemic, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions impact consumers differently, what role should brands play to support and engage? How concerned should marketers be with influences like social media and choice paralysis? And how can brands capitalise on the way consumers are feeling? Listen now to learn how brands can help consumers and themselves!