AI Rudder’s woes pile up as APAC expansion hits roadblock

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Hi readers,

“You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes”. This iconic line delivered by the leather coat clad Morpheus in The Matrix always gives me goosebumps. Just before Mr. Anderson – aka Neo – goes to pick up that red pill, Morpheus tells him that all he is offering him is the truth and nothing more.

I can still picture the iconic still in which Morpheus’ mirror-like glares reflects Neo’s hand reaching out for the red pill. The dialogue was so popular that several people even used it in their EDM songs.

Pills aside, the story of the recent turmoil at Singapore-based voice assistant startup AI Rudder made me feel exactly like going down a rabbit hole. What started off as just a tip about another startup laying off staff during the tech winter turned into cascading stories from current and former employees about the alleged problems within the company.

What’s surprising is the job cuts came soon after AI Rudder raised US$50 million in a series B round from Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, and Huashan Capital, among other investors. So the layoffs were not due to insufficient funds.

But what’s clear is the picture was far from perfect within the company. Allegations range from several problems with AI Rudder’s product itself to sudden changes in its Asia-Pacific expansion plans, as well as a certain investor taking on a more active role in the management of the portfolio firm.

While the company is still seeing good revenue growth – which led to the big-name investors in its recent round – the sources cast doubts that it will achieve its target for the year. What we need to watch out for is if the existing investors will continue to back the firm despite these allegations – which only time will tell.

— Collin Furtado, journalist at Tech in Asia

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Image credit: Timmy Loen

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