SoundHound Left Around 40% of Staff Waiting on Conditional Two Week Severance
Voice AI company SoundHound sent nearly half of its staff for a chaotic ride in January. The company, which produces AI products for household names ranging from Mercedes-Benz to Snap, silently laid off more than 40% of its workforce, offering them a measly two week severance package condition up SoundHound securing new fundings according to an exclusive Gizmodo report. Laid off SoundHound employees speaking with Gizmodo spoke out against the “pitiful” severance and expressed frustration with the 17-year-old- company’s handling of its restructuring.
“I’m actually quite shocked by the way the layoffs were handled,” one of the laid off employees told Gizmodo. “I was expecting a 17 year old company, which is now a public company, to at least provide bare minimum severance.”
Luckily for those workers, SoundHound was able to secure the necessary funding, a total of $25 million in equity, from a mix of investors weeks later. Several Of the laid off employees showed Gizmodo emails they received from the company confirming they would in fact receive their severance following the new investment.
