Bria, the Israeli startup that builds image and video generation models, is laying off about 20 of its roughly 60 employees, about a third of the company, as part of a restructuring and reduction in operations. Calcalist first reported the news. According to a report on mako, most of those laid off do not work in Israel.
What is changing at the company?
According to reports, the model development team, which operated in several countries, was reduced and its work consolidated into the Israeli team. VP of Research Ron Mokady left the company, and CTO Misha Feinstein continues to lead research and development.
What sets Bria apart?
Bria built itself on a promise different from most rivals: its models are trained only on licensed content, and artists and rights holders are paid. It is an attractive message for large companies worried about copyright suits when they use AI-generated images. By March 2025 the company had raised about $65 million, including a $40 million Series B.
Why does it matter?
The cuts at Bria are a sign of a hard market. AI image and video generation is a field where the competitors are giants such as Google and OpenAI, which invest vast sums and release new models every few months. A 60-person startup must be very focused to survive, and the 'clean data' promise alone is probably not enough, as long as the courts have not decided whether training on unlicensed content is even a problem.
