Eltrys has learnt that SeekOut, an eight-year-old hiring company that uses AI to find job candidates, let go of about 30% of its staff this past Thursday.
“Lately, we’ve been spending about $2 to earn $1, and we burnt a lot of cash last fiscal year,” SeekOut’s CEO Anoop Gupta and CTO Aravind Bala wrote in a message to workers. “Sorry, but we need to make big cuts to staff in order to get back on a sustainable path.”
This is the second time that the Seattle-based company has had to let people go. GeekWire reported that SeekOut fired 16 workers in October, which was about 7% of its staff at the time. The story says that after cutting staff in October, the company had about 200 workers.
The letter stated that the company had decided to refocus and give more attention to fewer projects that would have the biggest effect on customers and bring the most value to the business. 
We are making this cut deliberately to improve our finances and maintain our competitive edge in talent intake and management areas. In an email, SeekOut’s general attorney and top privacy officer, Sam Shaddox, told Eltrys that workers who are leaving are getting a lot of help.
The last time SeekOut was worth more than $1.2 billion was in January 2022, when Tiger Global led a Series C round that raised $115 million. Every year, the business made 300% more money, and its annual repeat income (ARR) was around $25 million to $50 million.
However, when it comes to hiring, things have changed a lot since then. Since interest rates are going up, it’s easier to find people with skills in fields like technology. This is because both big companies and new businesses are paying more attention to their bottom lines.
In 2022 and 2023, many people will have lost their jobs at tech giants such as Alphabet and Meta. The trend had to hurt SeekOut’s business because the company makes software that helps big businesses in tech, drugs, aerospace, defence, and banking find diverse and “hard-to-find” employees.
Some of SeekOut’s other backers are Madrona Venture Group, Mayfield, and GV.
