Edtech unicorn Unacademy lays off 10pc of workforce: report

SoftBank-backed Unacademy has laid off 10% of its workforce, or about 350 employees, according to a report by Moneycontrol.

In an internal mail, the edtech startup said that the layoffs would happen across verticals, some of which would also be shut or scaled down.

In the mail, Gaurav Munjal said that those impacted by the decision would receive a detailed communication within 48 hours from the HR department.

"I want to apologise to everyone sincerely since we made a commitment of no layoffs in the organisation, but the market challenges have forced us to reevaluate our decisions. Funding has significantly slowed down and a large portion of our core business has moved offline," he wrote in the mail.

Early in August, in a move to cut costs, edtech unicorn Unacademy suspended the contract of doubt-solving educators on the platform for six months.

In October, the edtech unicorn clocked a loss of Rs 2,848 crore for FY 2022. The startup’s losses have widened by 85% since the previous fiscal when it reported a loss of Rs 1,537.4 crore, according to the company’s annual financial statements with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Unacademy has reported a consolidated revenue of Rs 719.2 crore in FY22—an 80.8% rise compared to the previous fiscal when it recorded a revenue of Rs 397.6 crore. 

Over the past year, Unacademy shut down its K12 business, laid off employees, has taken cost-cutting measures, and entered the offline market.

However, India's second most-valued edtech startup's bet on its job-hunting platform, Relevel, has borne fruit as it has not only survived the gloomy macroeconomic conditions but thrived.