Web browser and search startup Brave has laid off 27 employees across the different departments, TechCrunch has learned. The company confirmed the layoffs but didn’t give more details about the total headcount left nor the reason for the layoffs. PitchBook however estimates that Brave has around 191 employees, working out to Brave cutting 14% of staff.
The new round of job cuts comes about 10 months after the company let go of 9% of its total workforce in October 2023. At that time, Brave said the cuts were due to “cost management in this challenging economic environment.”
After initially fashioning itself a ‘blockchain browser‘ and adding several crypto-related features, Brave has more recently leaned into AI with its product releases this year. The company launched its AI assistant, Leo, on desktop, Android, iPad, and iPhone in a staggered release cycle.
The company integrated its own search results with its Leo chatbot in June. Users could, for example, use the chatbot to ask about the score of a sports match, or get additional context about an article they are reading without navigating to a search page. The company is also selling a Leo Premium subscription for $14.99 per month for access to better models and higher limit rates.
Earlier this month, Brave started letting all users link their own models to use in the browser after testing the ability for a few months.
Brave has not detailed the cost of developing and running these AI-focused features, and it is not clear if that cost connected to this wave of layoffs.
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