Seattle technical recruiting startup Karat is laying off 47 employees for the second time this year, part of an effort to restructure various organizations within the company and make progress towards profitability.
The startup confirmed the cuts to GeekWire on Wednesday. It did not provide an updated headcount, but according to LinkedIn, the company has 393 employees, down from 423 employees in January.
“Karat has made significant progress against the investment areas we outlined at the start of the year — we are on track to double our number of global enterprise customers and have become the first end-to-end hiring solution,” a company spokesperson said via email Wednesday. “We also continue to advance equity across the tech industry, scaling up our Brilliant Black Minds community to over 4,000+ Black engineers and adding new corporate Partners of Brilliance to hire them.”
The layoffs impacted various roles, including product, client service, and go-to-market organizations, the spokesperson said. This is the second round of cuts this year, including a workforce reduction that also impacted 47 employees in January.
Companies of all sizes are being advised to cut costs and reduce spending amid the broader tightening of the economy and slowdown in venture capital spending. Large Seattle startups including Convoy, Highspot, Flyhomes, and others have announced layoffs this month.
Founded in 2014, Karat is led by Mo Bhende, a former director for Xbox at Microsoft, and co-founder Jeff Spector, who previously was chief of staff to Melinda French Gates at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The startup uses a network of vetted interviewers who run the interviews via video conference, using a question format and scoring rubric based on research and analysis done by Karat. Companies receive feedback on the top qualified applicants, based on Karat’s due diligence, as well as insights about their hiring process. The idea is to help companies screen more candidates while freeing up their own employees from interviewing responsibilities.
Its software is used by tech companies such as Compass, Intuit, and Indeed, and others including Ford, American Express, and Bank of America that need help interviewing engineers.
Karat became one of Seattle’s highest-valued privately held startups after it raised $110 million in a Series C round in 2021, which brought its total valuation to $1.1 billion. It currently ranks No. 25 on the GeekWire 200, our list of the top startups in the Pacific Northwest.
Karat’s Brilliant Black Minds uses Karat’s Interviewing Cloud to deliver free interview practice, feedback, and coaching to help aspiring Black software engineers prepare to successfully enter the tech industry. Tennis star Serena Williams invested in the startup last April.
