{
  "id": 9348302,
  "title": "Bird raises $450M in debt, headcount cut from 1,000 peak to 120",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/bird-raises-450m-in-debt-headcount-cut-from-1-000-peak-to-120",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-23T14:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Tech.eu",
    "slug": "tech-eu",
    "url": "https://tech.eu/2026/09/23/bird-raises-450m-in-debt-headcount-cut-from-1000-to-120/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Bird, the European business communications platform previously seen as a competitor to US-based Twilio, has raised $450 million in debt financing, marking a shift in its business strategy towards AI. This move has resulted in a significant reduction of its workforce, decreasing from a peak of 1,000 employees to a current size of 120. The debt financing round was led by JP Morgan, Capital One, and Citi, involving $400 million in a term loan and $50 million in a revolving credit facility. Seven banks were involved in the financing process. The funds raised will be used to provide liquidity to current and former shareholders, rather than for growth purposes. Bird, founded in the Netherlands in 2011, was known for offering a unified platform for businesses to communicate with customers through various channels, including email, SMS, WhatsApp, and voice. However, its founder, Robert Vis, has attributed the company's reduction in headcount to the impact of AI on operations and changes in its customer base. Last year, Bird announced the reduction of around 120 jobs as part of its efforts to streamline business processes. Currently, the company claims that its workforce has been reduced through automation, rather than a deliberate layoff. Bird's focus has shifted from its European customer base to the US market. The company is positioning itself to capitalize on the growing world of AI agents, with its revamped AI Agentic Harness platform enabling AI agents to send messages, place calls, manage emails, and obtain eSIM phone plans on Bird's network without requiring custom integrations. The company's profits for the year amounted to $165 million. In 2021, Bird raised an additional $800 million in a Series C extension, led by Tiger Global, Eurazeo, and Owl Rock, following a $240 million round in 2020 that valued the company at $3 billion. Robert Vis, Bird's founder and CEO, stated that the company's decision to automate was driven by a desire to become more productive, and the reduction in headcount was a natural outcome of this process. He noted that half of the apps on people's phones rely on Bird's infrastructure, and the company has managed to run efficiently at a fraction of its previous size due to its automation capabilities.",
  "summary": "Bird, the business communications platform once seen as a European rival to the US's Twilio, has raised $450m in debt financing, as it underscored its repositioning as an AI business, a shift which ha...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}