AI startup BeyondMinds shutting down, laying off all 65 employees

Israeli AI startup BeyondMinds notified its 65 employees on Sunday that the company is shutting down and that they will be laid off. The company’s investors urged CEO and co-founder Rotem Alaluf to sell the company following the downturn in the tech market that started last year, with the board of directors not believing that the company would be able to complete another funding round and continue to grow. However, Alaluf didn’t agree with the board and went on to leave his position as CEO and found a new company with other staff from BeyondMinds. The new startup named Wand.ai is currently in stealth.

Co-founder Roey Mechrez took on the role of CEO following Alaluf’s departure in an attempt to save the employees’ jobs and investors’ money. However, BeyondMinds was notified on Sunday that a possible sale of the company it was looking into had fallen through due to the situation in the market and the general slowing in employee recruitment.

Rotem Alaluf.

Alaluf co-founded BeyondMinds with Or Kremer and Roey Mechrez. The company was founded at the end of 2018 and operated without raising external funds in its first year. The company held its Seed round in 2019 led by veteran entrepreneurs Ehud Weinstein and Ofir Shalvi. BeyondMinds completed a $15 million Series A round in November 2020 led by Grove Ventures, headed by Dov Moran.

The AI platform it developed allows big organizations to integrate AI solutions broadly and quickly. Among BeyondMinds’ clients are household brands such as Microsoft, Samsung, and KPMG, as well as large defense sector organizations and leading financial institutions.

The problem which BeyondMinds was focused on is the difficulties companies have in the development, integration, and maintenance of AI solutions in their respective firms. The company's AI-as-a-Service platform was developed with the aim of helping companies adopt an AI solution and easily adjust it to their specific needs.