Brave Lays Off 27 Employees

TechCrunch has heard that all 27 employees at the web browser and search startup Brave have been let go

The company stated that people were being let go, but they didn’t say how many people were being let go or why they were being let go. According to PitchBook, Brave has about 191 workers, a big chunk of the company’s staff.

About 10 months ago, in October 2023, the company let go of 9% of its staff. Now, they are cutting even more jobs. At the time, the business said these cuts were part of its plan to “manage costs in this tough economic environment.”

After adding a few crypto-related features, Brave’s new products have put a lot of emphasis on AI this year. Leo, the company’s AI helper, came out on desktop, Android, iPad, and iPhone at different times.

In June, the company added its search results to its Leo robot. Users could then ask what the score was in a game or learn more about a story they were reading without leaving the page. Leo Premium is another service that the company offers. For $14.99 a month, you can get access to better models and higher limit rates.

The company let some users test the feature for a few months before allowing all users to link their models to use in the browser earlier this month.

Brave didn’t say if the cost of building and maintaining these AI-focused features was one of the reasons for this round of cuts.