U.S. startups laid off more than 3,000 employees in January — a 1,700% increase from the same month last year

More than 3,000 startup employees were laid off in January. Getty Images

• Economic uncertainty has prompted a wave of layoffs in the tech industry.

• After the 2021 venture capital investment boom, startups are cutting costs and shedding jobs.

• More than 3,000 employees at US startups lost their jobs in January, according to data from Layoffs.fyi.

Economists may still be debating whether or not the US will enter a recession, but for the tech industry, the retreat is well underway.

Layoffs have dominated the headlines since late 2022, with big tech giants like Google, Meta and Amazon announcing the layoffs of thousands of employees.

The startup world has also taken a big hit: U.S. startups — categorized as companies that have raised at least seed funding and up to Series J funding — laid off over 3,000 employees in January, according to data from Layoffs.fyi. Layoff amounts for some companies were not available. In contrast, in January 2022, only about 180 startup employees faced layoffs.

That’s a roughly 1,700% increase in job cuts year over year — a clear example of how the economic outlook for tech has changed over the past 12 months.

Many of these companies raised large amounts of venture capital prior to the market crash. While 2021 was a record year for venture capital investments, late in the year 2022 saw a sharp drop in deals and many startups struggled to raise more funds.

This has contributed to a wave of cost cutting across the industry. In the first month of 2023, 62 US startups laid off staff. And the job cuts have continued into February, with corporate unicorns Clari and Workato cutting their workforce.

Here’s the full list of US startups that made layoffs in January, according to Layoffs.fyi data.

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