Cohere fires 20 employees after successful $500M funding round

What’s happening at Cohere?

This past Tuesday, artificial intelligence startup Cohere cut approximately 20 employees. These positions were part of a larger workforce of 400 individuals. According to CNBC, this layoff at the Canada-based company comes despite the recent completion of a $500 million funding round from investors including AMD, Salesforce, Oracle, and Nvidia who have valued Cohere at $5.5 billion.

Official statements and context

A representative of Cohere told CNBC “With our most recent round of financing in place, we have a clear vision for the future of Cohere, which has required some internal realignment.”

• “We will continue to aggressively hire people as we work to offer companies the most accurate, secure and private multilingual AI solutions in the market.”
• Despite the recent layoffs, Cohere is hiring in areas such as customer operations, partnerships, revenue, sales, product design and modeling, according to its website.
• Many of Coherer’s competitors offer AI products for both businesses and consumers, however, Cohere has decided to focus to focus on g products solely for businesses
• In a statement given to CNBC this past March, Cohere president and chief operating officer Martin Kon told CNBC that by staying focused on enterprise AI, the company can run efficiently and keep costs under control even amid a chip shortage, rising costs for graphics processing units (GPUs) and ever-changing licensing fees for AI models.

Layoffs in Canada

It remains unclear exactly how many Cohere employees in Canada will lose their job as a result of this layoff.

Your rights

In Canada, non-unionized employees at Cohere are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing, corporate restructuring, or the closure of the business.

This applies to individuals working in any capacity — full-time, part-time, hourly, or potentially even independent contractors — in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.

Severance is the compensation provided to non-unionized workers in Canada by their employer when they are terminated without cause, and can be as much as 24 months’ pay, depending on a number of factors.

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains why you are still owed severance if you have been downsized on an episode of the Employment Law Show.

Severance offers and deadlines

Before accepting a severance offer, double-check the amount using our firm’s free Severance Pay Calculator. It has helped millions of Canadians determine their entitlements.

In addition to your salary, make sure to factor in any other elements of your compensation (i.e. bonuses, commission, etc.).

If your employer’s offer falls short of what our Severance Pay Calculator says you are owed, it’s very likely that you have been wrongfully dismissed and should contact an experienced employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP.

Non-unionized employees in Canada have up to two years from the date of their dismissal to pursue proper severance pay. An employer’s deadline to sign back a severance offer is not legally enforceable or binding.

LEARN MORE
• Severance pay for provincially regulated employees
• Rights to severance during mass layoffs
• Severance entitlements in a recession

Major layoffs continue

The job cuts at Cohere come amid a flurry of layoffs in 2024.

Big names, including Intuit, UiPath, Dyson, Vancity, Stifel, WillScot of Canada, Netflix, AmDocs, EXL Service, Best Buy, Relic Entertainment, Ubisoft, Intel, Amazon, and Telus, have pulled out the axe as they continue to navigate challenging economic conditions.

SEE ALSO
• Shell to lay off 20% of deals division, part of restructuring
• Walmart Canada cuts jobs amid restructuring, shift to Spark: Reports
• Where are layoffs happening in Canada?

Lost your job? Talk to an employment lawyer

If you have been fired or let go for any reason, contact the experienced employment law team at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP.

Our lawyers in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C. have successfully represented tens of thousands of non-unionized individuals.

In addition to severance package negotiations, we can assist you on a broad range of employment matters, including:

If you are a non-unionized employee who needs help with a workplace issue, contact us or call 1-855-821-5900 to get the advice you need and the compensation you deserve.