Luxury electric carmaker Karma Automotive laid off 60 people mostly from its Irvine headquarters as its repositions itself from a retail auto seller to a designer for larger vehicle makers and technology companies. That's on top of another 200 workers cut three months ago, shrinking their workforce by about 25% since October.
Many of those pink slipped are engineers, according to filings with the California Employment Development Department earlier this month.
One of the world's largest carmakers, Hyundai Motor Group, tapped Torrance-based startup Canoo to design the powertrain that will be used for their electric vehicles.
Terms of the deal were undisclosed but a similar one struck earlier this year between the Korean automaker and UK-based Arrival catapulted the startup to unicorn status. Arrival said it's now valued at 3 billion euros.
Venture-backed startup SureSale is attempting to challenge the dominance of Carfax, a longtime industry standard in the used car market, with a more comprehensive certification akin to a manufacturer's guarantee that a vehicle is in good shape.
The Santa Monica startup, which certifies pre-owned vehicles with a background and 150-point inspection check, announced it secured $7 million in Series A funding this week led by Upfront Ventures with participation from Coffin Capital and Ventures.