Alphabet’s Moonshot X Lab cuts staff, turns to outside investors

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Alphabet Inc.’s lab for pioneering technology is laying off dozens of employees as it turns to outside investors to help fund its ventures.

The division, known as X, has in recent months ramped up discussions on funding with venture capitalists and other investors, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named as it is private. The lab is adopting a new structure that’ll enable its projects to more easily spin out of X as independent startups with support from Alphabet and outside backers, according to one of the people and an email to staff obtained by Bloomberg.

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X seeks bold approaches to major challenges like climate change and connectivity, but its efforts have yielded few durable businesses thus far.

“We’re expanding our approach to focus on spinning out more projects as independent companies funded through market-based capital,” Astro Teller, who leads to lab, wrote in the email. “We’ll do this by opening our scope to collaborate with a broader base of industry and financial partners, and by continuing to emphasize lean teams and capital efficiency.”

As part of the restructuring, X is laying off dozens of employees, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter. The layoffs are focused on support staff, the person said. Alphabet didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
Launched by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, X has captured the public imagination by pursuing projects from