Vancouver robotics startup Sanctuary AI’s board of directors forced co-founder Geordie Rose out as CEO earlier this month, The Logic has learned, setting off a string of personnel changes at the company. 

In an email obtained by The Logic, chief financial officer Philip Smith told investors that Sanctuary’s board decided to remove Rose as CEO and “separate him from the company.” The board has formed a search committee and is now working with a global search firm to find a replacement, the Nov. 9 email said. The email did not provide details on why Rose was ousted.

While Sanctuary announced last weekend that Rose would be replaced by chief commercial officer James Wells on an interim basis, the company did not publicly share that the leadership shakeup was the board’s decision.

Five days after Rose’s exit, chief marketing officer Benedict Reed said he would be leaving the company, too. Upwards of 30 employees were also laid off last week, a source familiar with the matter told The Logic, including software and marketing employees. Bloomberg first reported news of the layoffs on Friday. 

Rose did not respond to The Logic’s interview request. Sanctuary’s board chair declined to comment. The firm’s communications team—which was hit with a number of layoffs—did not respond.

Rose’s exit was sudden and unexpected, two former employees and one investor told The Logic. He oversaw Sanctuary’s creation of a five-foot-seven general purpose robot, Phoenix, which uses AI to learn and complete tasks.

A serial entrepreneur, Rose previously founded B.C.-based quantum computing company D-Wave and was formerly the CEO of Kindred, which was later sold to Ocado Group. He also started a new company, Snowdrop Quantum Applications, earlier this year.

“I am grateful for Geordie’s many years of hard work, and I have full confidence in Sanctuary’s leadership,” Sanctuary’s co-founder and former chief technology officer, Suzanne Gildert, said in an email statement to The Logic. Gildert left Sanctuary in April and started Nirvanic, a new AI company.

Sanctuary has raised $140 million to date from various investors, including the federal government’s flagship Strategic Innovation Fund, BCE, Export Development Canada and Panache Ventures.

Two investors in the startup, who asked not to be named as they’re not authorized to speak on the matter, said they were concerned about Sanctuary’s ability to raise money in the competitive industry.

One investor told The Logic that Sanctuary could be one of the first to “fall prey to exponentially increasing investor anxiety” surrounding robotics companies. Another said they worried about whether Sanctuary has raised enough money compared to U.S. peers to support its capital-intensive operations. 

Sanctuary competes with a slate of larger robotics companies, like Silicon Valley-based Figure AI, Norway’s 1X and Elon Musk’s venture into humanoid robotics through Tesla. Figure AI raised US$675 million in a Series B round in February.

In April, Sanctuary struck a deal with Aurora, Ont.-based Magna International—which manufactures parts for major automakers like BMW, Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen—to supply its Phoenix robots for factories. Magna’s venture capital arm initially invested in Sanctuary’s $75.5-million Series A round.

The company also said it also entered into an AI research partnership with Microsoft in May. 

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include that Geordie Rose did not respond to The Logic’s interview request at the time of publication.