AI21 Labs cuts staff and pivots to Maestro orchestration platform

Israel's AI21 Labs, after a $300M round in 2025, cut 110 of 180 employees and shifted from selling LLMs to its Maestro orchestration platform. In April 2026, reports emerged of acquisition talks with Nebius Group.

• Headcount cut from 180 to 70 — a 61% reduction
• Raised $636M total across 7 rounds, including $300M in 2025
• Jamba model supports context up to 256,000 tokens
• Nebius shares rose 21.3% after deal rumors