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Artificial Intelligence: Inscribe.ai Reduces Workforce by 40% Due to Fraud Detection Software Production

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Yet another AI-powered fraud detection software provider is laying off staff. Inscribe, whose platform works to detect fraud in areas like business underwriting, tenant screening, and onboarding, has cut just under 40% of its staff, which equates to dozens of employees. San Francisco-based Inscribe.ai confirmed the headcount reduction to TechCrunch, noting that the AI advances in the financial services industry necessitated a pivot to a new product and direction for the company. “2023 was a year of change for our customers and Inscribe,” explained Inscribe CEO and co-founder, Ronan Burke. At the time, the company forecast it would double its then 50-person workforce over the coming 12 to 18 months.

Sorare, the web3 gaming company, sees 13% reduction in workforce amidst declining interest in NFT fantasy sports.

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NFT fantasy sports startup Sorare lays off 13% of staff, as web3 gaming continues to sputter Sorare is not completely shuttering its New York office but is shifting more employees to ParisWeb3-enabled fantasy sports platform Sorare laid off 22 employees based in its New York office in February. The company will backfill most of these laid-off roles in Paris, according to Julia, with plans to hire more than 20 roles in the next six months. Sorare is not shutting down its New York office. Sorare saw $200 million in user transaction volume in 2023, a source familiar with the situation said. Web3 gaming startup Mythical Games raised nearly $300 million in venture money before holding three rounds of layoffs.

“India Paves the Way for a Revolutionary Spaceport, Focused on Small-Scale Launches”

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It will be second after the space agency’s existing Satish Dhawan Space Centre, founded in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota in 1971, with two launch pads. The spaceport will be dedicated to launching smaller launch vehicles and will be ready in about two years, ISRO chairman S Somanath said on the sidelines of the event in Tamil Nadu. Spread over 2,350 acres, the Kulasekharapatnam spaceport will help save fuel for small rocket launches as the port can launch rockets directly south over the Indian Ocean without requiring crossing landmasses. “This facility will play an instrumental role in accommodating the increasing launch frequency of both ISRO and the growing private space industry in the coming years. Bhatt, director general of the Indian Space Association.

“Latest Updates: Google Debuts Fresh Open LLMs, Rivian Enacts Employee Cutbacks, and Signal Introduces Usernames”

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Google releases new open LLMs, Rivian lays off staff and Signal rolls out usernamesWelcome, folks, to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter covering noteworthy happenings in the tech industry. This week, Google launched two new open large language models, Gemma 2B and Gemma 7B, in its continued bid for generative AI dominance. The company, which describes the LLMs as “inspired by Gemini,” its flagship family of GenAI models, made each available for commercial and research usage. Change Healthcare hit: Change Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare tech companies in the U.S., confirmed that a cyberattack on its systems occurred recently. YouTube triumphant: YouTube dominates TV streaming in the U.S., per Nielsen’s latest report.

“Rivian Implements Workforce Reduction Amid Increasing Pressure on EV Pricing”

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This is the third round of layoffs for the EV company since July 2022 when Rivian cut 6% of its workforce. On a full-year basis, Rivian reported revenue of $4.4 billion, up from $1.66 billion in 2022. It brought in about $39 million in the fourth quarter and $73 million for the full year from the sale of regulatory credits. On an adjusted basis, it reported a loss of $1.1 billion compared to a $1.5 billion loss in the same year-ago period. “We took significant steps towards driving greater efficiency in 2023 gross profit per vehicle improved by approximately $81,000 when comparing the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter 2022,” Scaringe said on an earnings call Wednesday.

“Disappointing Growth Results Lead to 20% Reduction in Workforce at Aurora Solar”

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Despite record growth in the solar industry last year, software startup Aurora Solar has laid off 20% of its staff of about 500 people, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The company, which provides software to help solar installers manage their sales, project design and installation process, has missed its growth targets for the past year, a source said. It’s possible that Aurora Solar hit stiffer headwinds than expected in California, where changes in net metering led to homeowners getting paid about 75% less for power sold back to utilities. With net metering rates slashed, the state has decided to offer richer incentives for solar installations that include batteries. While Aurora Solar says its software is used by 90% of the top 100 solar installers, it also has more than 7,000 customers, many of which likely fall in the long tail of the distribution, those that say they’re under the most pressure.

Aurora Solar’s Layoffs: Failure to Meet Targets Results in 20% Staff Reduction

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Despite record growth in the solar industry last year, software startup Aurora Solar has laid off 20% of its staff of about 1,000 people, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The company, which provides software to help solar installers manage their sales, project design and installation process, has missed its growth targets for the past year, a source said. It’s possible that Aurora Solar hit stiffer headwinds than expected in California, where changes in net metering led to homeowners getting paid about 75% less for power sold back to utilities. With net metering rates slashed, the state has decided to offer richer incentives for solar installations that include batteries. While Aurora Solar says its software is used by 90% of the top 100 solar installers, it also has more than 7,000 customers, many of which likely fall in the long tail of the distribution, those that say they’re under the most pressure.

Cutbacks at Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard and Xbox Divisions Claims 1,900 Jobs.

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Three months after completing its $68.7 billion acquisition of gaming company Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is laying off 1,900 employees in its gaming divisions. This amounts to about 8.6% of 22,000 Microsoft employees in gaming. Blizzard president Mike Ybarra also announced he will step down, now that the acquisition is finalized. According to game developer and consultant Rami Ismail, about 5,600 gaming employees have been laid off so far in 2024. Thats more than half of all gaming layoffs from 2023.

“TikTok’s Workforce Reduction: 60 Employees Let Go”

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TikTok is the latest tech company to mount another round of layoffs in an increasingly bleak January. According to NPR, which broke the news, TikTok cut about 60 jobs, mostly in sales and advertising. Since then, TikTok users have complained that their For You Page is overrun with videos from creators seeking to make affiliate commissions by promoting products from TikTok Shop. Across social platforms and other consumer tech products, layoffs have been rampant so far this year. Google has laid off hundreds of employees in hardware and advertising sales, plus another hundred employees at YouTube.

Audible, Owned by Amazon, Cuts 5% of Their Workforce

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Audible, the Amazon-owned audiobook company, is laying off 5% of its staff, according to a leaked memo obtained by Business Insider. Per the memo, Audible CEO Bob Carrigan praised staff for a strong 2023 and assured them that the business was in good shape… but, due to the “increasingly challenging landscape,” the company is still making cuts. Now, just this week, Twitch laid off another 500 employees, and Amazon’s MGM Studios and Prime Video let go of “several hundred” employees. Prime Video aside, all of these organizations at Amazon — Twitch, MGM Studios and Audible — came to the company via acquisition. Audible has been part of Amazon since 2008, when it was acquired for $300 million.