BenevolentAI is making its second round of layoffs in a year, as the company continues to refine the business strategy around its AI drug discovery platform.
Having completed a market assessment, BenevolentAI said it will cease work on a software-as-a-service product it called knowledge exploration tools, given the investment and time needed to fully commercialize the product and reap a financial return.
As a result, the company will cut 30% of its staff, lowering the headcount to about 180. It will also close its US office and concentrate resources around London and Cambridge, UK.
The latest cuts follow a strategic review last year that led to the departure of 180 staffers. Like several other startups that raised substantial funding on the promise of speeding up AI in drug discovery, BenevolentAI has run into clinical setbacks for its first candidate that forced it to go back to the drawing board.
BenevolentAI said it’s made progress landing new drug discovery collaborations and moving its own programs forward, which is where it will focus on.
Joerg MoellerEven though the downsizing will extend its cash runway into the third quarter of 2025, the company noted there’s still a gap to year end 2025, when it expects larger milestones from existing partnered programs. To plug the gap, it said it will seek new deals — both discovery pacts and out-licensing.
Its shares, which are traded on Euronext Amsterdam, are down 65% over the past year.
“While these situations are always difficult, as a company we have a duty to our shareholders to optimise capital allocation in the areas where we believe the potential return is the greatest,” CEO Joerg Moeller said in a statement.