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Portland pediatrics startup Brave Care lays off a third of staff

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Another promising Oregon startup is cutting jobs.

Portland-based Brave Care, a small chain of pediatric clinics, laid off approximately 40 staffers last week – a third of its workforce.

None of the layoffs were among clinical staff, though, and the three-year-old company said all four patient care sites will remain open.

“The past few years have been incredibly hard to navigate for all of us, and the constant changes from COVID and the impact on financial markets has made it impossible to accurately predict what’s coming next for our business,” CEO Darius Monsef wrote in an email. “In the absence of knowing exactly what would be best for our company, we defaulted to do what was best for our patients.”

Brave Care has opened five pediatric clinics since its founding in 2019, most recently near Austin last spring. The company also has two Portland clinics and one in Beaverton; a North Carolina clinic closed in May.

Brave Care has raised about $43 million in venture backing, including a $25 million round 11 months ago, and had appeared to be on a rapid growth trajectory.

Like many other young companies, though, Brave Care is cutting back amid ongoing pandemic disruptions and growing turmoil in the financial markets. Venture funding was down by 27% nationwide in the second quarter as investors pare back in the face of rising interest rates and upheaval on Wall Street.

“We will still open more clinics in the Portland and Austin areas in the future,” Monsef said, “but for the next 12 (months) we will focus on supporting the rapid growth we did in the past 2 years and the beautiful clinics we opened.”

Unemployment remains at historic lows in Oregon and across the country, with the jobless rate under 4%. But inflation is running at a multidecade high, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, and COVID-19 is continuing to disrupt supply chains and the health care field, in particular.

Vancouver biotech startup Absci laid off about 40 workers last month, less than a year after its initial public offering, in anticipation of a tougher funding market. Other regional firms that have cut jobs recently include Smarsh, Puppet and New Relic.

— Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | 503-294-7699 | Twitter: @rogoway |

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