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- Crypto-friendly web browser Brave lays off 14% of its workforce, affecting 27 employees across departments.
- Despite user growth to 80 million monthly active users, Brave faces a second round of layoffs in 10 months.
- The company shifts focus to AI, launching assistant Leo and allowing users to link custom AI models.
Web browser and search startup, Brave has laid off 27 employees across various departments. While the company confirmed the layoffs, it did not provide details on the remaining staff or the reasons behind the decision. According to PitchBook, Brave has around 191 employees, meaning the layoffs affected about 14% of its workforce.
This latest round of job cuts comes just 10 months after Brave laid off 9% of its staff in October 2023, citing the need to manage costs during tough economic times.
Founded by Mozilla co-creator Brendan Eich in 2015, Brave has been steadily growing. Its latest transparency report shows nearly 80 million monthly active users, up from 65 million last year. However, despite its rise, Brave remains smaller than rivals like Opera, Firefox, and the dominant Google Chrome.
Popular in the crypto community, Brave offers services like a native wallet and access to the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). In 2017, it raised around $35 million through the sale of its Ethereum-based Basic Attention Tokens, designed to reward users for viewing ads.
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Originally known as a “blockchain browser” Brave shifted focus towards artificial intelligence (AI) this year. The company launched its AI assistant, Leo, across desktop, Android, iPad, and iPhone, and in June, it integrated Leo with its search results. This allows users to ask the chatbot questions like sports scores or get extra details on an article without leaving the page.
Brave also offers a Leo Premium subscription for $14.99 a month, providing access to better AI models and higher usage limits.
Earlier this month, Brave allowed all users to link their own AI models to the browser after testing the feature for several months. The company hasn’t disclosed the costs associated with these AI developments, leaving it unclear if they relate to recent layoffs.
