SeekOut, a Seattle-area startup that sells recruiting software and raised $115 million in 2022, is trimming its workforce for the second time in the past eight months.
TechCrunch, which first reported on the layoffs, reported that 30% of SeekOut’s workforce was let go. The cuts were announced last week, according to LinkedIn posts from affected workers.
“This reduction is a strategic measure aimed at strengthening our financial position and maintaining our competitive edge in the talent acquisition and management segments,” the company said in a statement. “Departing employees are receiving extensive support, including severance packages and career counseling to help them during this transition.”
The company did not provide details on number of employees impacted by the cuts or total remaining headcount.
SeekOut previously laid off 7% of its staff in October, and said it had about 200 employees at the time.
Founded in 2017, SeekOut’s software is used by more than 1,000 companies to help with recruiting. It pulls data on millions of potential candidates from a myriad of sources, including GitHub and published papers. The software also features built-in diversity filters.
SeekOut reached a valuation of $1.2 billion in 2022, making it one of Seattle’s so-called “unicorn” startups. At the time, the company said its annual recurring revenue had tripled over the past nine months, and was in the $25-to-$50 million range.
But the tech downturn that began later in 2022 caused companies to curb hiring and trim workforces — possibly reducing demand for a company like SeekOut.
Jobs site Indeed laid off 8% of its workforce last week and did another round of layoffs last year, citing a “global slowdown in hiring.”
Nearly 300 tech companies have laid off more than 84,000 employees so far this year, according to Layoffs.fyi. Last year, nearly a quarter million tech workers were laid off amid a tightened venture capital market and increased interest rates. Tech giants such as Amazon and Google also laid off employees.
SeekOut CEO Anoop Gupta is a former technical assistant to Bill Gates who previously led Microsoft’s Unified Communications Group. He won CEO of the Year honors at the 2022 GeekWire Awards. His co-founders include CTO Aravind Bala, a former Microsoft partner engineering manager who worked on products including Bing and Office, and Vikas Manocha and John Tippett, who both also worked at Microsoft.
Stephanie Camp, the company’s former chief marketing officer, left in March and is now a VP at Zendesk.
SeekOut investors include high profile firms such as Tiger Global, Madrona, and Mayfield.
Related: Tech job market remains in flux as layoffs continue and experienced workers struggle to get hired
