Author: openjargon

• The creator economy is catching notable VCs' attention — and their wallets.
• Creator-focused startups are raising millions of dollars.
• Here are the pitch decks that 33 startups used in Series A, seed, and pre-seed rounds.

The creator economy has bred a new generation of startups — from influencer-marketing companies to new social-media experiences.

These startups have captured the attention and wallets of influential venture capitalists and angel investors over the last several years, giving rise to several unicorn valuations in the space, such as the link-in-bio service Linktree (valued at $1.3 billion in 2022) and the affiliate-marketing platform LTK (valued at $2 billion in late 2021).

Check out 14 VCs who are investing in innovative startups focused on the creator economy and influencers

Even as the economy has weathered changing tides and investments have cooled across industries, some startups in this sector are still raising money.

Several startups announced seven-figure seed rounds in 2023, including the Web3-inspired social network Seam Social's $2.5 million round in December. Last year also saw several later-stage funding rounds, such as one from Whop, an e-commerce marketplace for digital goods, which announced its $17 million Series A in July. Karat, a financial startup for creators, raised a $70 million Series B in June — though it proves that a big VC round doesn't ensure stability, as the company later conducted layoffs in October.

Here are 16 creator-economy startups that raised the most money in 2023.

So, how do creator-economy startups land those investments? Often, it starts with a pitch deck. 

Lumanu, a creator-focused financial startup, uses a simple pitch deck that's more of a "conversation guider," its cofounder and CEO, Tony Tran, told BI.

"My pitch is always why, what, how, and why now?" Tran said. (Read the full pitch deck here.)

Skye, a career-coaching startup, had different pitch decks depending on the type of investor or fund they pitched to.

"I had two different versions, depending on the fund," Jessica Wolf, Skye's CEO and one of its cofounders, said. "If I knew a fund was more into pre-seed, all about the founder, I had one deck. But if I knew that they were a numbers person, I would use another one."

Every startup has a different approach.

Some, such as Throne, even ditch the pitch deck altogether and opt for an email or Notion document.

Read the email template creator-economy startup Throne used to secure its seed investment.

BI talked with founders who've pitched their startups to investors about their process. They broke down the pitch decks they used to secure millions of dollars in funding.

Read the pitch decks that helped 33 creator-focused startups fundraise millions of dollars:

Note: Pitch decks are sorted by investment stage and size of round.

Series A

• Restream, a livestreaming alternative to platforms like the Amazon-owned Twitch: $50 million Series A (14 pages)
• Pearpop, a creator-marketing platform: $18 million Series A (18 pages)
• Spoon Radio, a social-audio startup: $17 million Series A (15 pages)
• Kyra, a content studio, talent-management firm, and influencer-marketing platform: $15 million Series A (20 pages)
• Allstar, a startup helping gamers become social-media creators: $12 million Series A (6 pages)
• Lumanu, a business-solutions platform for creators: $12 million Series A (8 pages)
• Hype, a platform for link-in-bio and other creator-monetization tools: $10 million Series A (13 pages)
• Catch+Release, a startup that helps creators and everyday social-media users license their content to brands: $8.8 million Series A (12 pages)
• Slip.stream, a music startup focused on gamers: $7.5 million Series A (13 pages)
• Brag House, an esports startup: $5 million Series A (24 pages)

Seed

• Scenario, a generative-AI startup to create gaming art and assets: $6 million seed (8 pages)
• Authoritive, an online course-development startup: $5 million seed (11 pages)
• Dharma, a travel startup for creators and brands: $4.7 million pre-Series A (17 pages)
• Glystn, an AI-powered community-management platform: $4 million seed (15 pages)
• Anima, an augmented-reality startup: $3 million (15 pages)
• Grandstand, a sports startup working with athlete creators: $2.75 million
• Seam Social, a new Web3 social-media platform: $2.5 million (10 pages)
• Spark, a digital-art platform from the YouTuber Moriah Elizabeth: $2.5 million seed (9 pages)
• Insense, a startup helping e-commerce brands get low-cost ads: $2.5 million pre-Series A (9 pages)
• Supercast, a podcast subscriptions startup: $2 million seed (20 pages)
• Chartmetric, a music-data and -measurement company: $2 million seed (46 pages)
• Ultimate Playlist, a music-marketing startup: $2 million round (9 pages)
• Magroove, a music-distribution and -discovery platform: $1.6 million seed (21 pages)
• Stagetime, a professional-networking startup for performing artists: $1.5 million seed (13 pages)
• Jubilee Media, a content studio looking to expand beyond YouTube and TikTok: $1.1 million seed-plus (12 pages)

Pre-Seed

• Storia, a startup for animators and writers: $2.5 million pre-seed (16 pages)
• July, a "talent manager in your pocket" for creators: $2.3 million pre-seed (9 pages)
• Squads, a startup that helps creators mint and sell crypto coins: $1.8 million pre-seed (12 pages)
• Skye, a career-coaching platform: $1.6 million pre-seed (33 pages)
• Punchup Live, a comedy platform: $1 million pre-seed (19 pages)
• Spore, a content and community-building startup: $1 million pre-seed (17 pages)
• Hashtag Pay Me, a startup that helps creators price brand deals: $200,000 pre-seed (9 pages)
• Our Future, a short-form video-news brand that targets Gen Z: acquired (15 pages)

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• TSMC sees growth in the microchip industry slowing to 10%, it said in a post-earnings call.
• The dimmed outlook comes on slowdown expectations for automotive chips.
• But the firm still projects strong AI-led revenue growth in the second-quarter.

Microchips aren't making the inventory comeback industry optimists have hoped for, compelling the world's top chip producer to dim its outlook.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing now expects the market to expand 10%, excluding memory chips. That's down from the "more than 10%" forecast it laid out months prior.

The update was offered during the firm's post-earnings call with analysts, and is premised on TSMC's shifting stance on automotive chips, used in vehicles. Though it previously expected demand in this sector to rise through the year, it now sees a contraction as more likely. Further explanation was not provided.

"Looking at 2024, macro economy and geopolitical uncertainties persist, which could further affect consumer confidence and end-market demand," CEO C.C. Wei said on the analyst call.

That's not to say the firm has turned gloomy about its own prospects, instead forecasting its second-quarter sales to rise by as much as 30%. 

"Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the insatiable AI-related demand for energy efficient computing power," Wei said, also citing high demand for AI-led data centers.

The bell-weather firm is central to AI's development, as it's the principal manufacturing hub for tech leaders like Nvidia and Apple. In fact, AI-related chips will account for a tenth of revenue this year, before taking up a fifth of this figure in the coming four years.

While TSMC beat both revenue and profit expectations in the first quarter, ADRs on its stock fell as much as 6% on Thursday, amid the dampened industry outlook.

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• 23andMe cofounder and CEO Anne Wojcicki wants to take the once-hot DNA company private.
• 23andMe said a Special Committee would evaluate the proposal in light of other options.
• The company's valuation has tumbled since its stock market debut in 2021.

23andMe — the struggling DNA company once valued in the billions — was essentially worthless as of Wednesday.

But in a filing late Wednesday, Anne Wojcicki revealed she wants to buy back the company she cofounded in 2006 and take it private.

On Saturday, Wojcicki notified board members of her plans to acquire all outstanding shares in the company, indicating that "she was working with advisors and plans to begin speaking to potential partners and financing sources," according to an SEC filing.

The filing states Wojcicki wants to retain control of the company and "will not be willing to support any alternative transaction."

23andMe confirmed it was aware of Wojcicki's plans in a press release Thursday. It said its board formed a Special Committee on March 28 and would review Wojcicki's proposal "when and if it is made available and evaluate it in light of other available strategic alternatives, including continuing to operate as a publicly traded company."

23andMe debuted on the stock market in 2021 but has taken an epic fall from its peak valuation of $6 billion, with financial and strategic missteps, as well as high-profile hacks of user data, dragging the company down.

Wojcicki has attempted to reverse course by announcing layoffs, selling subsidiaries, pivoting to subscriptions, and offering various healthcare services. It hasn't worked.

Shares shot up to trade at roughly 50 cents on Thursday after Wojcicki's filing. But the stock had been trading at just 36 cents on Wednesday, a new low.

The Nasdaq had previously threatened to delist the company if it kept trading for lower than $1.

Before Wednesday's filing, the company's enterprise value was negative since its shares were valued at less than the cash the company reported having on hand.

A 23andMe spokesperson told Business Insider that the Special Committee declined to comment. A rep for Wojcicki did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

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• Google fired 28 employees involved in protests against a $1.2 billion cloud contract with Israel.
• The company warned employees that disruptive behavior won't be tolerated.
• An employee was fired in March for interrupting an interview with a Google Israel executive to protest the contract.

Google issued a warning to any employees considering participating in any future sit-in protests within the company's offices: "Think again."

Google fired 28 employees on Wednesday following in-office protests against the company's $1.2 billion contract with Israel.

The company sent an internal memo Wednesday evening, reviewed by Business Insider, explaining its course of action and telling employees to rethink violating its policies when demonstrating.

"If you're one of the few who are tempted to think we're going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again," Google said in the memo. "The company takes this extremely seriously."

The protests against Google's Project Nimbus contract, which supplies cloud computing services to Israel's government and military, took place outside Google offices in New York City, Sunnyvale, and Seattle, as well as inside the NYC and Sunnyvale locations, when a number of employees staged a sit-in.

Google placed the employees involved in the in-office protests under investigation and revoked their access to its systems. From that group, five were arrested in Sunnyvale and accused of trespassing, and four were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing in New York City.

Google said in the memo the behavior violated multiple policies, including its code of conduct and policy on harassment, discrimination, retaliation, standards of conduct, and workplace concerns.

"They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers," Google said in the internal memo. "Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened."

According to one of the arrested employees in New York City, 23-year-old Hasan Ibraheem, the protest started around noon on Tuesday. The group of employees sat in the office and gave chants and speeches every 15 to 20 minutes until about 6 p.m.

The group was asked to leave multiple times, but Ibraheem said at the time, he viewed the requests as "empty threats." After losing access to the company's systems and refusing to leave, the police arrested the remaining group at 9:30 p.m.

Google said it will continue to investigate and take action as needed.

"Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it," Google said in the memo.

Google added that it will continue to use its policies to take action against disruptive behavior, which may include termination. The company also said employees should expect to hear more from leaders about standards of behavior and discourse in the workplace.

Google employees have generated headlines in the past for organizing protests, ranging from walkouts protesting sexual misconduct at the company to petitions urging Google CEO Sundar Pichai to stop providing AI tech to US military drones.

Most recently, Google fired one employee for disrupting a presentation in New York by the company's head of Google Israel.

Read the full memo below:

Googlers,

You may have seen reports of protests at some of our offices yesterday. Unfortunately, a number of employees brought the event into our buildings in New York and Sunnyvale. They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers. Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened. We placed employees involved under investigation and cut their access to our systems. Those who refused to leave were arrested by law enforcement and removed from our offices. 

Following investigation, today we terminated the employment of twenty-eight employees found to be involved. We will continue to investigate and take action as needed.

Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it. It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to – including our Code of Conduct and Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, Retaliation, Standards of Conduct, and Workplace Concerns.

We are a place of business and every Googler is expected to read our policies and apply them to how they conduct themselves and communicate in our workplace. The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing. If you're one of the few who are tempted to think we're going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again. The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior – up to and including termination. 

You should expect to hear more from leaders about standards of behavior and discourse in the workplace.

Chris

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• Ukraine said its forces took out multiple S-400 launchers during an attack on a Russian base.
• The strikes on the Dzhankoi base in Crimea this week destroyed or damaged four launchers, Kyiv said.
• The S-400 is a prized Russian air-defense system, and relatively few have been lost during the war. 

Ukraine's military intelligence agency says Kyiv took out several of Russia's prized S-400 air-defense launchers during an attack on an airbase in the occupied Crimean peninsula this week.

The strikes, which occurred overnight on Tuesday, targeted the Dzhankoi military base in northern Crimea, and destroyed or critically damaged four S-400 launchers, three radar stations, air-defense equipment, and airspace surveillance equipment, the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence said on Thursday.

"The number of damaged or destroyed enemy aviation facilities and the number of casualties among the personnel of the Russian army of occupation is being clarified," the HUR, an arm of the country's defense ministry, wrote in a statement shared to the Telegram messaging app.

Footage of the attack shared on Thursday by Ukraine's defense ministry purported to show several munitions being launched into the sky and then a series of massive explosions at the base.

It's unclear what type of ordnance Kyiv's forces used for the strikes, and Business Insider was unable to immediately verify the footage.

Explosions were initially reported around the base early Wednesday morning, and then footage of the Ukrainian attack began to circulate on social media.

Later, the pro-Ukraine Atesh partisan movement reported the "defeat" of an "S-400 complex." A launcher had exploded and there was serious damage to the remaining vehicles of the system, Atesh said, citing agents that the group said it had within the Russian military.

"The occupiers believed in their newest air-defense system so much that they placed warehouses with missiles directly next to the launcher," Atesh claimed in a Telegram statement.

Russia's formidable S-400 Triumf is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system that's capable of engaging targets — such as aircraft, drones, and cruise and ballistic missiles — at long ranges and high altitudes. The S-400 is the successor system to the S-200 and S-300 and is considered to be a Russian equivalent of the US-made MIM-104 Patriot battery.

The advanced S-400, which has been highly praised by Moscow, has played a role in denying Ukrainian aircraft the ability to operate close to the front lines. S-400 losses throughout the war have been relatively rare, although Kyiv has managed to destroy several systems, including a few as a result of attacks last fall.

Russia also had several different types of helicopters — including the Mi-8, Mi-25M, Mi-28, and Ka-52 — deployed to the Dzhankoi base, according to the Institute for the Study of War think tank. The conflict analysts wrote that it is unclear if any of the aircraft suffered damage in the strike.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy celebrated the attack on Wednesday evening and thanked both the Ukrainian forces and Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of Kyiv's military, for organizing the operation. "The occupier must lose, and each of their losses is Ukraine's strength," he said in an address to the nation.

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• Mark Zuckerberg has overtaken Elon Musk as the world's third-richest person, with a $175 billion fortune.
• Zuckerberg has gained $47 billion in wealth this year while Musk has lost $55 billion, according to data from Bloomberg.
• The shift in wealth has been driven by Meta Platforms stock soaring and Tesla shares plunging.

A near mirror image in stock-price performance has helped catapult Mark Zuckerberg ahead of Elon Musk as the world's third-richest person, according to data from Bloomberg.

Mark Zuckerberg had a net worth of $175 billion as of Wednesday, just slightly overtaking Musk's net worth of $174 billion. That gap is set to widen on Thursday as shares of Tesla decline to a new 52-week low while Meta Platforms stock pushes toward all-time highs.

Year-to-date, Zuckerberg has added $47.3 billion to his net worth while Musk has seen his net worth decline by $55.2 billion. That decline has knocked Musk down from the status of being the world's richest person to the world's fourth richest person. 

Musk is ahead of Bill Gates' $149 billion fortune, while Zuckerberg is behind Jeff Bezos' $203 billion fortune and Bernard Arnault's $221 billion net worth. 

Driving the shift in fortunes for Musk and Zuckerberg is the performance of their respective stocks. Meta Platforms has surged 43% year-to-date, while shares of Tesla are down nearly 40%.

Solid fourth-quarter earnings results, a newly initiated dividend, and growing investor enthusiasm for the impact artificial intelligence is having on Meta Platforms' underlying business are in stark contrast to the slowing sales growth at Tesla, declining profit margins, and "thesis-changing" robotaxi pivot at Tesla.

Zuckerberg's source of wealth is extremely concentrated in Meta Platforms stock. The Facebook co-founder owns about 13% of the social media company. That's in contrast to Musk, who has many business ventures driving his fortune, including Tesla, SpaceX, and X. 

Musk and Zuckerberg have been at odds with each other in the past, culminating in both agreeing to fighting in a cage match last year. The fight never happened. 

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• The House voted on Thursday to condemn Iran's recent missile and drone attack on Israel.
• 13 progressive House Democrats — and one Republican — voted against it.
• Among them was AOC, who argued this week's flurry of anti-Iran bills were designed to cause war.

The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to condemn Iran's recent missile and drone attack on Israel.

13 progressive House Democrats voted against the resolution along with Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a non-interventionist libertarian who often opposes these types of resolutions.

The attack, the first-ever launched from Iranian soil, came in response to an Israel's bombing of an Iranian consular facility in Syria on April 1. The attack was largely foiled as a result of both American forces and Israeli missile defense systems.

In response to Sunday's attack, House Republicans teed up a barrage of resolutions and bills this week that took aim at Iran while affirming US support for Israel.

That included a series of bills to ratchet up sanctions on Iran and its proxies in the Middle East, as well as a resolution condemning the pro-Palestinian slogan "from the river to the sea" as antisemitic, which 44 House Democrats voted against.

Most of those bills garnered broad bipartisan support, but a small cohort of progressive Democrats opposed most or all of them.

In a statement on Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York accused Republicans of attempting to "distract from their own incompetence" by bringing bills "designed purposefully to increase the likelihood of a deadly regional war."

"I will oppose any cynical effort to further inflame tensions, destroy a path to peace in the region, and further divide the American people," said Ocasio-Cortez. Other progressives issued statements calling for de-escalation in the region more broadly.

Thursday's resolution also included a clause affirming the US's "commitment to Israel's security, including through security assistance and defense sales."

As the death toll from Israel's war in Gaza has mounted, progressives have increased called for conditioning — or outright refusing — further military aid to Israel. Democrats are also increasingly likely to view Israel's actions in Gaza as a genocide.

Here are the 13 House Democrats who voted against the resolution:

• Jamaal Bowman of New York

• Cori Bush of Missouri

• Greg Casar of Texas

• Jonathan Jackson of Illinois

• Pramila Jayapal of Washington

• Hank Johnson of Georgia

• Barbara Lee of California

• Summer Lee of Pennsylvania

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York

• Ilhan Omar of Minnesota

• Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts

• Delia Ramirez of Illinois

• Rashida Tlaib of Michigan

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• Ural Airlines has abandoned plans to rescue its Airbus A320 stranded in a Siberian wheat field.
• High costs, logistical challenges, and a lack of support from Airbus influenced the decision.
• The loss could be a blow to Ural amid Western sanctions that limit Russia's aircraft supply.

An Airbus A320 passenger jet operated by Russian carrier Ural Airlines has been sitting in a Siberian wheat field since September.

A hydraulic failure caused a low-fuel situation, and the pilot made the decision to ditch the jet instead of continuing to the diversion airport.

None of the nearly 170 people onboard were injured and customers were offered about $1,100 in compensation.

Ural initially planned to retrieve and repair the stranded plane for re-entry to service — even posting progress updates on Telegram late last year — but money and logistics have forced the airline to jump ship, an airline representative told the Russian newspaper Izvestia on Thursday.

"We assess all the risks and are inclined to not use this aircraft in commercial operation, taking into account the fact that in the current conditions there is no support from the manufacturer Airbus," Ural told the outlet.

Ural said it had considered several ways to fly the aircraft out, like taking off from a frozen runway available during the Russian winter or constructing a new one using slabs.

The soil density, however, made the former nearly impossible, the airline told Izvestia. Ural further said the materials needed for the latter would be difficult to transport to the remote field from the south Russian city of Novosibirsk, some 120 miles away,

The high cost associated with the plane's upkeep was also a driver in abandoning its rescue. Ural told Izvestia it has already spent 10.5 million rubles (about $112,000) on expenses like maintaining the A320, renting the land, putting up fencing, and hiring security.

Ural told Izvestia it still plans to remove the plane — but likely not in one piece, looking at options like disassembling the jet and taking it out in sections via helicopter.

The loss of Ural's A320 leaves it with 25 of the Airbus narrowbodies in its fleet, according to Planespotters. The airline also operates four Airbus A319s and 22 Airbus A321s for a total of 51 planes.

Russian carriers are already pulling from a low stock of airplanes amid Western sanctions preventing the country from receiving Boeing and Airbus jets, so losing one in the current climate could be a significant financial hit to Ural.

However, it's likely the airline could salvage the much-needed parts to use on other aircraft as sanctions also prevent Russian carriers from receiving spare inventory.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russian airlines have turned to seedy methods to build their maintenance stockpiles and keep passenger planes flying, like buying secondhand parts from China and Iran and "cannibalizing" their own fleets.

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• New images posted to social media show China's third and newest aircraft carrier hosting aircraft mock-ups.
• It's a notable step before the Fujian's upcoming sea trials, showing what its future air wing might look like.
• The Fujian is a large, modern ship expected to be a major upgrade to China's naval capabilities.

China's newest aircraft carrier appears to be sporting mock-ups of warplanes, according to new images posted to social media by a long-time China watcher.

It's a major step for the Fujian, as the People's Liberation Army Navy looks to put its largest, most advanced carrier through sea trials and push it closer to being ready for operations.

Images of the Fujian, also identified as Type 003, docked in Shanghai were posted on X this week. On Tuesday, Andreas Rupprecht, a China aviation observer and researcher, also shared the images, discussing their significance. The Fujian's mock-ups were first reported by The War Zone.

Closer examination of the flight deck revealed that the Fujian is currently hosting five mock-ups: a KJ-600 airborne early warning and control aircraft, two fourth-generation J-15 carrier-based fighters, a fifth-generation J-35 fighter, and a JL-10J advanced jet trainer and light combat aircraft.

The mock-ups appear to simulate where the aircraft would be on the carrier's deck. The pictures also show the Fujian's catapult system, designed to launch aircraft much like the US Navy's aircraft carriers. The Fujian is China's first carrier to feature this technology, as previous carriers have launched aircraft with ski jumps, upward ramps at the end of the deck. China's two other carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, both feature ski jumps.

Back in January, Chinese state media showed aerial footage of the Fujian featuring three catapult tracks and an aircraft mock-up. Catapult launch systems are much more effective than ski jumps, easing the strain of takeoff on the aircraft and allowing for the launch of larger fixed-wing planes with heavier payloads and more fuel.

The Chinese carrier relies on conventional power, as opposed to nuclear like US carriers, and steam turbines, but the ship's catapults are electromagnetic, like those on the US Navy's new Ford-class aircraft carriers.

The Fujian's catapults are a notable jump in technology. The Department of Defense said in 2019 in its annual China military power report that the carrier's "design will enable it to support additional fighter aircraft, fixed-wing early-warning aircraft, and more rapid flight operations."

Before the carrier's launch, experts said that the ship would "significantly upgrade China's naval capabilities." These features allow the Chinese navy to tap the full potential of the heavy J-15, and launch assets like early warning planes for greater situational awareness in combat.

The new images of the Fujian come as the aircraft carrier, the Chinese PLAN's third and by far most advanced, is expected to head out on its first sea trials this year. Previous satellite images have documented extensive progress on the Fujian.

The Fujian is a major improvement in naval capability for China. Named after China's closest province to Taiwan, the carrier officially launched in June 2022. It began construction in 2018. It is still a conventionally powered carrier, but observers suspect the PLAN will develop nuclear-powered carriers in the future.

The Fujian is larger than its predecessors — likely the size of the US' old Kitty Hawk-class carriers, Matthew P. Funaiole, Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., and Brian Hart wrote for the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in June 2021.

"When the Type 003 eventually enters service, it will be a formidable addition to China's navy and allow it to more effectively project power into the Indian and Pacific Oceans," they said at the time.

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• Tesla has laid off 280 workers at its Buffalo, New York facility.
• Elon Musk told Tesla staff he was cutting more than 10% of the company's workforce.
• The Buffalo site is used for training Tesla's driver-assist software, and energy storage products.

A regulatory filing lends more insight into Tesla's recent layoffs.

The company has laid off 280 workers at its facility in Buffalo, New York — or about 14% of the workers at the site — according to a regulatory filing in New York under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The WARN act requires most companies with more than 100 employees to provide 60 days of notice before a large-scale layoff.

The 280 Buffalo-based workers are part of the larger layoffs across Tesla. On Sunday night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told staff the company was cutting more than 10% of its workforce. Within hours, laid-off workers were notified their employment had been terminated effective immediately.

The layoffs appear to have impacted workers across the country, as well as some staff at Tesla's international offices. Two of Tesla's largest factories are located in California and Texas, both of which were included in the layoffs.

Tesla's Buffalo site is used as a site for the company's data analysis to train its Autopilot and so-called Full Self-Driving software. The facility also produces Tesla's solar panels, EV charging, and energy storage components.

On Wednesday, Tesla began sending out severance packages to some workers who'd been laid off. Five workers told Business Insider they were offered severance packages that were equal to two months pay. Tesla's severance offer could address any potential penalties if it were found to have violated the WARN Act, which says laid-off employees can be entitled to up to 60 days of pay and benefits if not given proper advanced notice.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com

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