Cerebral is cutting 20% of its workforce, citing an ongoing push for efficiency at the digital health unicorn.
A Cerebral spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch but did not share the specific employees affected. According to the WSJ and Insider, which first reported the news, about 400 people, mainly clinical staff and care consultants, will lose their jobs.
“Today’s changes are part of Cerebral’s ongoing transformation program, which drives for more sustainable growth and stability, and further demonstrates our mission to make high-quality mental health services accessible to everyone,” a Cerebral spokesperson told TechCrun. “These changes are specifically focused on realizing operational efficiencies while prioritizing clinical quality and safety within the organization.”
The company did not elaborate on what kind of severance was offered to employees, but told TechCrunch, “We are doing everything we can to support our affected colleagues as they seek other opportunities.”
The Cerebral Model explains that care advisors regularly interact with patients to monitor and provide support for medications prescribed by clinicians.
The SoftBank-backed company is being monitored to make it easier to offer ADHD medication to customers. It could be quite simple: Charges have led to an investigation by the Justice Department, where over-prescriptions of drugs like Adderall may violate the Controlled Substances Act.
A lawsuit was filed against the company by former vice president of product and engineering Matthew Trube, alleging that the company’s top executives encouraged cerebral staff to administer stimulant drugs to all ADHD patients. According to a press release, the company has stopped providing these services, citing the need to review clinical quality and safety procedures.
“Based on recent feedback from stakeholders, it’s clear that this is a distraction from our focus on democratizing mental health care services, treating more patients, and adding service lines for new conditions,” Robertson said in the release.
The San Francisco-based company It has raised more than $426 million since its inception in 2020, of which $300 million was raised in a Series C round last December. According to Behavioral Health Business, Cerebral is valued at $4.8 billion.
Earlier this year, Cerebral laid off “hundreds” of people, mainly affecting its support and operations team, to revamp its programs. At the time, the company did not provide any details to TechCrunch explaining any layoffs.
Cerebral is among the top healthcare startups in the past few months, such as Trupil and Nome.
Current and former Cerebral employees can contact Andrew Mendez by email at andrew.mendez@techcrunch.com or via Signal, a secure encrypted messaging app, at 669-832-6800.
