Indian-origin CEO announces layoffs at $3.4 billion US startup: ‘Difficult day’

Healthtech unicorn Innovaccer has carried out a fresh round of layoffs as it moves towards an AI-native structure. A screenshot of Innovaccer CEO Abhinav Shashank’s email to staff is being widely circulated on social media, in which he confirmed AI as the reason behind the layoffs. Abhinav Shashank is the co-founder and CEO of American healthcare technology company Innovaccer.

According to an Inc42 report, this is the startup’s third round of layoffs in the four years. Sources told the news outlet that 340 employees in the United States and India will be impacted by the layoffs.

What CEO Abhinav Shashank said Abhinav Shashank, the Indian-American CEO of Innovaccer, called it a “difficult day” for the company as he informed staff of the layoffs.

“Today is a difficult day for us at Innovaccer, and I want to name that plainly before anything else,” Shashank said in his email with the subject line “Moving Forward as an AI-Native Company”.

“Some of our colleagues will receive a message from the PX team today, informing them that their roles are ending,” he explained. “These are people who shipped products, closed deals, supported customers, and carried this company through hard stretches. What they built is real, and it matters, and I want them to know that directly, not as a footnote.”

The email went on to give details of the compensation package and transition support that laid-off employees could expect.