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factory
Zume
corporate_fare
Food
where_to_vote
SF Bay Area
paid
Funding Stage - Unknown
person
Layoff Count - 200

Posted on August 11, 2022

Leaked memo: Troubled Softbank-backed robotics startup Zume just conducted a second round of sweeping layoffs after funding falls through

Leaked memo: Troubled Softbank-backed robotics startup Zume just conducted a second round of sweeping layoffs after funding falls through

Beleaguered robotics startup Zume just laid off two-thirds of its remaining employees, roughly 200 staffers, as the funding it needed to survive failed to materialize in a post-coronavirus VC market. In a cruel twist of fate, employees were supposed to be notified of the cuts via Zoom, the video conferencing software with a similar sounding name but at the last minute cofounder and CEO Alex Garden instead sent a company-wide email Wednesday announcing the changes.

The cuts leave Zume, which was once valued by private investors at more than $1 billion and had nearly 1,000 employees including specialists in robotics and AI, with roughly 100 staffers focused on a business creating compostable food packaging.