Ada Support, a Canadian AI chatbot platform for customer service, has laid off 36 full-time employees, representing 23% of its 156-person workforce, along with five co-op students whose contracts were canceled. The company-wide cuts, announced in April 2020, were driven by the economic uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, which slowed new software purchases despite increased customer reliance on Ada's technology. This reduction came just over a month after the startup secured a $63.7 million CAD Series B funding round, aimed at scaling its platform. Ada, operating in the competitive tech and AI industry, cited the need to reevaluate operational expenses and noted it did not qualify for federal wage subsidies due to its continued growth.
