Krutrim, the artificial intelligence company founded by Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal, has reportedly laid off more than 100 employees in a second round of job cuts, reported The Economic Times.

The layoffs affected a large part of the firm’s linguistics team, which had only recently joined the company.

The decision comes just weeks after Krutrim’s first round of layoffs in June, when over a dozen roles were cut. People familiar with the matter told The Economic Times that the latest layoffs were part of a “strategic realignment” and an attempt to build leaner teams to manage resources better.

The recent round of layoffs began shortly after the launch of the company’s AI assistant, Kruti, in June.

One of the people cited in the report said, “Almost 80% of the training has been done for the AI assistant Kruti and they don’t need as many people as they did before.” This suggests that the company’s need for linguistics staff has reduced as the product nears completion in its early phase.

Krutrim had previously announced large investments in building its AI capabilities. Earlier this year, Bhavish Aggarwal launched Krutrim AI Labs, committing Rs 2,000 crore to AI development with plans to increase this figure to Rs 10,000 crore next year.

The company also raised $50 million from venture capital firm Z47 Partners, achieving unicorn status in 2024.

The layoffs are being seen as a shift in focus from team expansion to efficient deployment of capital, especially at a time when many tech firms across the world are tightening budgets and resizing teams.

While the AI sector remains one of the most talked-about areas of growth, several startups and large companies alike are facing the challenge of managing costs while trying to scale quickly.

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