Dozens of jobs at the big-data insights company Dataminr Inc. are on the chopping block, following a report that it’s looking to restructure its business and reduce costs.

The report from TechCrunch today revealed that the New York-based firm is looking to cut 20% of its staff, which amounts to about 150 jobs in total.

In a memo to employees, Dataminr founder and Chief Executive Ted Bailey blamed the impact of the current economic downturn, and said the cuts were necessary to achieve operational efficiencies and accelerate the development of its artificial intelligence platform. He also said the measures being implemented would “put Dataminr on a very strong financial footing moving forward.”

The company had reportedly been signaling to employees since October that a restructuring was on the horizon, but even with today’s memo, it’s not clear which parts of its business will be affected. Because the company is privately owned, it’s also unclear if its revenue growth has slowed, or revenue has possibly even declined.

Founded in 2009, at a time when big data was one of the hottest topics in tech, the company uses AI algorithms to scan the public web for any emerging developments that might be of interest to its business customers, which range from large enterprises to newsrooms. It aggregates a variety of data from more than 100,000 public sources, including news sites, social media platforms, the dark web and internet of things sensors.

The information is organized by its algorithms in such a way that it can surface any data points and trends that might be of interest to its customers. These are delivered to users as real-time alerts. Customers can customize what kinds of alerts they wish to see, based on their business priorities. According to the company, its customers use the insights it provides for business analytics, tracking emerging cybersecurity trends, consumer sentiment and more.

The company says its software can help organizations become aware of unfolding events that may impact their business days before they might find out about them through traditional channels.

Besides its enterprise product, Dataminr offers a tailored version of its platform for newsrooms, which it claims is used by more than 30,000 journalists globally. There’s a third version aimed at public sector organizations too, although its work with law enforcement agencies has attracted some controversy in the past.

In his memo to staff members, Bailey said that when the restructuring is complete, the company aims to focus on accelerating the growth of its AI features and products. In particular, he has high hopes for the success of a new AI platform due to launch early next year that will combine its technology with generative AI, presumably allowing customers to ask conversational questions about the insights it generates and dig deeper. “Dataminr will have multiple years of cash runway and a near-term path to profitability,” Bailey said.

It remains unclear what Dataminr’s financial situation looks like, but the company has raised plenty of cash in the past. Its most recent publicized round in October 2021 saw it land $475 million, bringing its total amount raised to over $1 billion and its valuation north of $4 billion. According to data from Pitchbook, it has since closed on two more, undisclosed funding rounds.

Dataminr’s focus on AI suggests that it may be looking to offload some of the “subject experts” on its staff and automate more of the work they usually perform.

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