Crunchbase clarifies how its tech layoff tracker counts job cuts

Crunchbase says its tech layoffs tracker is built to follow job cuts at companies tied closely to the U.S. tech sector. For retail investors watching company costs, hiring pressure and the broader tech cycle, the key caveat is that the tracker relies on reported estimates rather than confirmed internal payroll data in every case.

The database covers layoffs by U.S.-based companies, along with companies that have what Crunchbase describes as a strong U.S. presence. That includes startups as well as publicly traded, tech-heavy companies. Publicly traded companies are businesses whose shares trade on public markets, meaning investors can buy and sell their stock through an exchange or brokerage.

Crunchbase says the tracker can also include companies headquartered outside the United States if they have a sizable U.S. workforce. It points to Klarna as one example. In those cases, Crunchbase says a company may appear in the tracker even when it is not clear how many U.S.-based employees were affected by the layoffs.

How Crunchbase builds the tracker

Crunchbase says layoff totals and workforce figures in the tracker are best estimates based on available reporting. Its inputs include media reports, Crunchbase’s own reporting, social media posts and layoffs.fyi, a crowdsourced database that tracks tech industry layoffs.

Crowdsourced means information can come from a broad group of contributors rather than only from official company statements. That can help surface layoff activity quickly, but it also means the figures depend on the quality and confirmation level of the underlying reports.

Crunchbase says it updates the tracker at least every two weeks. It also says it recently changed the tracker so each company’s entry reflects that company’s most recent layoff round. According to Crunchbase, the change is intended to make layoff trends easier and more accurate to track.

That update may also explain why some numbers in the tracker have changed, Crunchbase says. For readers comparing current figures with earlier versions, that means a difference may reflect the tracker’s revised approach to showing the latest round rather than a completely new layoff event.

What happens when numbers are not confirmed

Crunchbase says it labels employee headcount as “unclear” when it cannot confirm the figure to its standards. That matters because layoff data can vary depending on whether a company has publicly disclosed the cuts, whether local filings are available, or whether reporting has identified the scope of the reduction.

The result is a tracker that aims to show tech layoff activity across startups, public companies and international firms with large U.S. teams, while flagging uncertainty where Crunchbase says the numbers cannot be pinned down.

This story draws on original reporting from Crunchbase News.