Nithin Kamath, Kunal Shah-backed edtech Stoa is winding down

Nithin Kamath and Kunal Shah-backed edtech startup Stoa, which started out intending to offer India’s best alternative to the traditional MBA—is winding down operations.

“After 4 years of operations, we’re closing the doors on Stoa,” Co-founder Raj Kunkolienkar posted on social media platform X on Tuesday.

“Long story short -- for us to stay true to our original mission of bringing affordable business education to the millions, staying online was key. Post pandemic, there was a perceptible dip in the interest for online live-learning due to changing consumer preferences. Despite having built a strong brand, we decided against going offline because the economics of that move would lead us to a place we stood against,” he added.

The edtech industry, which experienced a meteoric rise during the pandemic, is facing a period of significant adjustment. The surge in demand for online learning has waned, resulting in a decline in user engagement and a subsequent decrease in revenue for many edtech companies.

Co-founded in 2020 by Kunkolienkar, Aditya Kulkarni, Manoj Kambadur, and Sharmad Kuvelkar, the Bengaluru firm offered an alternative (six-month) MBA programme. Its competitors included Masters’ Union, Mesa School of Business, and Invact Metaversity, among others.

“With Stoa, we took a shot at solving upskilling for the rebellious lot which doesn’t fit the criteria of traditional institutions,” Kulkarni said in a post on X.

“It has been our privilege to serve over a thousand folks who have now gone on to do some amazing things across industries and geographies,” Kunkolienkar’s post noted.

Stoa would join education-focused startups like FrontRow, DUX Education, SuperLearn, Qin1, Lido Learning, Udayy, and Crejo.Fun that have shut shop over the last few years.

“Stoa did become my social identity within the small circle who cares about such things and it is kinda terrifying to reinvent it all over again,” Aditya Kulkarni noted, adding that he will write more about his “learnings from these 4 crazy years soon”.

Meanwhile, Kunkolienkar mentioned he is “taking some time off to rest, think and explore around as a free agent”. 

The edtech sector has also seen some M&As over the past year, including ALLEN’s acquisition of Doubtnut and Adda247’s acquisition of Ekagrata Eduserv and PrepInsta.