Unacademy appoints Sandhydeep Purri as CPO amid top-level departures
Prior to joining Unacademy, Purri served as the CPO at Sapphire Foods, where she was responsible for HR strategies for brands such as Pizza Hut and KFC.
Edtech company has appointed Sandhydeep Purri as its Chief People Officer (CPO) amid a wave of top-level departures from the company.
Purri, a seasoned HR professional with more than 25 years of experience in leadership positions, has driven business growth and transformation through people and cultural initiatives.
Before joining the edtech unicorn, Purri served as the CPO at Sapphire Foods, where she was responsible for HR strategies for brands such as Pizza Hut and KFC. She also led organisation development and effectiveness initiatives within the retail sector of the Aditya Birla Group.
“Her extensive experience and expertise promises to amplify our mission and will be invaluable as we continue to expand our team and scale up as an organisation,” Gaurav Munjal, Co-founder and CEO of Unacademy, said, adding that her leadership will be pivotal in “cultivating talent” and “championing a culture of innovation and progress” at the edtech firm.
Purri’s appointment comes amid a string of senior-level departures at the Bengaluru-based company. The most recent exit was that of CFO Subramanian Ramachandran.
Preceding this, Chief Operating Officer Vivek Sinha left the company in August after a three-year tenure, followed by the departure of Abhyudaya Rana, who held the position of Vice President and Chief of Staff at Unacademy’s CTO's Office.
Purri’s appointment marks a “significant milestone” for Unacademy, and it looks forward to the positive impact her leadership will have on the organisation.
This development parallels the actions of one of Unacademy's competitors, BYJU’S, which in August this year, appointed Richard Lobo, former EVP and Head of Human Resources at Infosys, as an exclusive advisor to drive the transformation of the troubled edtech company's HR function and enhance its employee-centric culture.
These changes come at a time when several edtech startups, including the unicorns, are witnessing losses, laying off employees, and trying to conserve cash amid a funding winter.
In April, Unacademy had claimed it is on track to achieve group-level profitability for calendar year 2023, driven by a registered revenue of Rs 1,250 crore compared to Rs 992 crore in the previous year.
The edtech unicorn has implemented various cost-cutting measures, including multiple rounds of layoffs and senior leadership salary reductions, to enhance the profitability of its operations.
The Bengaluru-based firm has witnessed a jump in revenue through sharp growth in its offline business. However, the revenue from the online test preparation segment—its core business—has dropped.
Unacademy clocked a loss of Rs 2,848 crore for FY22. The unicorn’s losses widened by 85% since the previous fiscal year when it reported a loss of Rs 1,537.4 crore. It is yet to disclose its financial results for the fiscal year 2022-23.
Edited by Suman Singh