Babylon Health furloughs 5% of workforce, despite $2B valuation: 5 notes

Babylon Health, a $2 billion digital technology and telehealth startup, furloughed 5 percent of its staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Business Insider report.

Five things to know:

1. Babylon Health, based in the United Kingdom, reportedly furloughed around 100 staff members in early April. The UK government covers up to 80 percent of the employee salary for furloughed workers.

2. Affected employees include office staff and front-of-house staff as well as some engineers.

3. The company was valued at $2 billion last year and has raised more than $600 million in funding. According to Business Insider, the furloughs were a surprise to employees.

4. The company is making "top-up payments" for employees on the lower side of the earning spectrum to minimize hardship.

5. Babylon Health's CEO Ali Parsa was reportedly among the health IT leaders to connect with the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month about rolling out coronavirus testing.

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