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SmartNews lays off 120 employees — January 12, 2023

SmartNews, a media company based in Japan, laid off 120 employees on January 12, 2023. At the time, the company was at the Series F stage. The layoff was reported by this source.

Company
SmartNews
Employees laid off
120
Date
January 12, 2023
Industry
Media
Country
Japan
Company stage
Series F
Total raised (pre-layoff)
$410M

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/12/news-aggregator-smartnews-lays-off-40-of-non-japan-staff-with-further-reductions-planned-in-japan/

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