Voice automation startup Skit.ai lays off over 115 employees: Report

New Delhi, Jan 14

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) voice automation startup Skit.ai has sacked more than 115 employees, mostly from its India team, as part of the "restructuring process" amid the deepening funding winter, the media reported.

According to a report in Inc42, Skit.ai Co-founder and CEO Sourabh Gupta announced the layoffs during a town-hall meeting.

The layoffs impacted various verticals like software engineering, product and operations, among others

According to the report, citing sources, the platform could not "generate enough revenue".

The platform offered two months of salary as a severance package to the laid off employees, along with insurance coverage for the next six months, the report mentioned.

"While the restructuring was unavoidable, the well-being of our ex-employees is important to us. Our priority right now is to support them in this transition and we are fully committed to that," Gupta was quoted as saying.

Skit.ai has raised about $30 million to date.

The startup raised $23 million in September 2021, led by WestBridge Capital and existing investors Kalaari Capital and Exfinity Ventures, among others, also participated in the round.

Gupta and Akshay Deshraj started Skit.ai in 2016 "with a mission to simplify the experience of connecting with contact centres".

"Like all great visions, ours too is supported by a great team of 400+ people spread across geographies but bound together by our values in the pursuit of following through on this commitment," says the company's profile on its website.

The platform has a customer service engine that leverages the combined power of human agents and its purpose-built voice AI technology.