Austin software company Khoros to lay off 116 employees weeks after acquisition

Weeks after it was acquired by another Austin tech company, social media and customer engagement software company Khoros LLC is laying off 116 employees.

According to a notice it sent to the Texas Workforce Commission, affected employees were notified this week that layoffs will begin Aug. 19 and are expected to be completed by Aug. 29.

The cuts include at least one vice president and other senior managers and directors, Khoros told the state. It didn’t respond to a request for further comment.

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The layoffs notice comes less than a month after the May 27 announcement that Khoros had been acquired by Ignite Enterprise Software Solutions LLC, an Austin-based software company focused on artificial intelligence and innovation. It’s commonly known as IgniteTech. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

IgniteTech is owned by local private equity firm ESW Capital Group and has made over 100 acquisitions in the past couple decades.

In its announcement of the acquisition, IgniteTech said it would be enhancing Khoros’ portfolio by introducing new AI features like expert help and discovery and brand defending tools.

Khoros was born when Vista Equity Partners merged Austin-based social media analytics startup Spredfast with San Francisco-based Lithium Technologies LLC in 2015.

Spredfast was started in 2008 as Social Agency Inc. It later merged with Austin-based Mass Relevance in 2014 before acquiring Shoutlet, an e-marketing company based in Wisconsin. The company was then acquired by Vista and was headquartered in Northwest Austin.

Khoros had 173 employees in 2023, according to the Austin Business Journal’s list of largest tech employees in the city, meaning the August layoffs could remove about two-thirds of its local staff.

In 2022, Khoros laid off about 10% of its global staff, including about three positions in Austin.

According to the WARN notice letter it sent to the state Tuesday, the August layoffs are expected to be permanent. There will be no bumping rights to allow senior employees being laid off to replace junior employees who are staying on.