• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 25, 2013

Mobile video-sharing service Viddy, which less than a year ago raised $30 million in a venture funding round, is scaling back following the departure of co-founder and CEO Brett O’Brien earlier this month.

The startup has cut 12 positions, or about a third of its staff, mainly in the areas of marketing and operations, as it seeks to reduce costs and rejigger its business, according to a TechCrunch report. Viddy confirmed the layoffs in a statement released Monday, saying, “As the board continues to review Viddy’s business, we’ve identified specific ways to streamline costs which include eliminating some positions.”

It also said it would continue to focus on bringing “the most innovative and engaging social mobile video product to market” and having the right team in place to move forward. The retrenchment stands in contrast to last spring, when Viddy benefited from investor optimism following Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram.

The $30 million it raised a few weeks after the Instagram deal gave it an estimated valuations of $370 million. But slowing user growth since then has precipitated the company’s restructuring. Rival mobile video startup SocialCam was acquired in July by AutoDesk for just $60 million.