Unacademy lays off 12% of employees in another round of job cuts

Edtech major Unacademyhas laid off 12% of its workforce in another round of job cuts in an effort to increase the profitability of its primary business, according to an internal memo from Co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal, reviewed by YourStory.

“We have taken every step in the right direction to make our core business profitable, yet it’s not enough. We have to go further, we have to go deeper. Unfortunately, this has led me to take another difficult decision. We will be reducing the size of our team by 12% to ensure that we can meet the goals we are chasing in the current realities we face. I did not anticipate I would have to do this again, and I’m very sorry,” Munjal wrote in the memo to employees.

Unacademy will provide the affected employees with a severance pay equivalent of the notice period and an additional one month’s pay, accelerated vesting of one year for employees who have been with the firm for at least one year, medical insurance coverage for an additional six months till September 30, and dedicated placement and career support, said the memo.

More than 330 employees are likely to have been impacted by this round of layoffs, out of the total workforce of over 2,800 employees.

YourStory has reached out to Unacademy for a comment. This story will be updated to reflect the company's response.

“Today’s reality is a contrast from two years ago where we saw unprecedented growth because of the accelerated adoption of online learning. Today, the global economy is enduring a recession, funding is scarce and running a profitable business is key. We have to adapt to these changes, build and operate in a much leaner manner so we can truly create value for our users and shareholders,” Munjal added in the memo.

This development comes a day after the edtech unicorn spun off its coding platform Codechef, which it acquired in 2020, into an independent business. Codechef was developed as a platform to help programmers enhance their skills and create a community.

Last November, Unacademy laid off 10% of its workforce, or about 350 employees. In January, Unacademy-owned Relevel let go of another 40 employees, or about 20% of its workforce. 

The latest round of layoffs comes at a time when edtech unicorns are witnessing losses, slowing expansion plans, and trying to burn as little cash as possible amid the funding winter.

A recent report by Moneycontrol noted that Unacademy and BYJU'S-owned Aakash are considering a possible merger. However, BYJU'S and Aakash have denied any such move.

Unacademy clocked a loss of Rs 2,848 crore for FY2022. The startup’s losses have widened by 85% since the previous fiscal year, when it reported a loss of Rs 1,537.4 crore.