Dataminr, the $4B big data startup, is laying off 20% of its staff, or 150 people, today as it prepares to double down on AI.

It’s been a tough day for the dataminer, the New York-based big data unicorn last valued at $4.1 billion. The company — which provides AI and big data algorithms news and predictive information about other global events — is laying off about 20% of its staff today, or about 150 people, TechCrunch has learned. According to a memo from founder and CEO Ted Bailey shared with us by a source, it cites the impact of the economic environment, operational efficiencies and “the recent rapid advancements of our AI platform.”

In the company-wide memo that we have seen, employees were asked to work from home today while they awaited details on whether they would be part of the affected group of employees. The company had been signaling to employees since October that a restructuring was coming, although it was not clear which business areas were being affected, nor what the company’s business situation had been like recently.

Bailey said in the memo that the restructuring measures “will put Dataminer in a much stronger financial position moving forward.” The company will look to advance its AI platform and products further – notably with the launch of a new AI platform in Q1 that will combine predictive AI with generative AI – but these moves will also require investment as a result. As it stands today, “Dataminer will have several years of cash runway and a near-term path to profitability,” he continued. (It also likely means it is preparing itself for a scenario in which it won’t raise much outside funding.)

We’ve contacted Bailey, the company’s media relations team, and several other individuals to confirm details provided to us by a source (who, unfortunately, appears to be one of those affected: really sorry again. , Friend). One of the persons, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the details. Meanwhile, there are now posts on LinkedIn from other people who are hearing the news and looking to hire.

And just as we were about to publish on it, a company spokesperson confirmed the memo to us.

Dataminr, founded in 2009, first came to prominence when we used clever big data techniques to parse unstructured data from social media posts and combine it with structured and unstructured data from other sources to understand public sentiment. Were looking at the emergence of companies using. Other insights.

Dataminr took that concept and applied it perfectly to insights about global events and other news: Twitter as an outlet for mobile phone-equipped users to post about what they were seeing. Dataminr used it, combined it with other data sources, and was able to catch any developments exactly as they were happening, often before the rest of the world jumped on the news.

Not surprisingly, some of the data it collects and how it is used has generated controversy over the years. But that didn’t seem to stop the company from gaining ground. Dataminr’s success comes from key partnerships with companies like Twitter and customers in government, enterprise, financial services and media.

And in the tough funding days of the 2010s, it raised money – a lot of it. It was last valued at $4.1 billion when it raised $475 million in 2021. In total, it has raised over $1 billion from its 100+ investors, including Fidelity and Morgan Stanley as well as Venrock, IVP, and many others. (Twitter, now called Raised an undisclosed amount.

Dataminr has always had a large number of “subject matter experts”, including engineers and sales and customer success specialists, as well as its own staff. In recent years, and most likely this year, the company has actually doubled down on the AI ​​aspect of its tech stack, which is why it is looking to move to reduce its workforce without impacting the business. Can see the path.