Amnon Shashua to leave AI21 after nine years
The departure follows major layoffs and a strategic reset at one of Israel's best-funded AI startups.
Prof. Amnon Shashua, one of the co-founders of AI21 Labs, has informed the company of his intention to step down from both the company and its board of directors, Calcalist has learned.
Shashua's planned departure comes after a turbulent year for AI21, which recently underwent a major restructuring that included sweeping layoffs as it shifted its strategic focus.
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Amnon Shashua (center) alongside AI21 co-founders Yoav Shoham and Ori Goshen.
(Photo: Orel Cohen)
AI21 Labs was founded in 2017 by Prof. Yoav Shoham, Ori Goshen, and Prof. Amnon Shashua. Since its founding, the company has raised approximately $336 million. Its most recent major funding round was a $200 million round at a $1.4 billion valuation in 2023.
In May, AI21 announced it was reducing its workforce from 180 employees to about 70 as part of a strategic refocus. Alongside the layoffs, the company signed a contract worth tens of millions of dollars with Nebius.
Shashua has increasingly focused on his other ventures in recent years, including Mobileye and Mentee Robotics, the humanoid robotics startup he co-founded.
He is also one of the founders of AAI, an AI startup established in late 2023 alongside Prof. Shai Shalev-Shwartz, Mobileye's CTO, and a group of Shashua's former doctoral students, leading researchers in computer science, mathematics and biology.
AAI operated in stealth mode for much of its existence before raising hundreds of millions of dollars in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Dell Technologies Capital, Pitango, and BRM. The financing valued the company at more than $1 billion, giving it unicorn status.
