UpGrad Campus, a video learning system, seems to be the newest to lay off 30percent of its entire workers. The job cuts at the upGrad corporation, which already had approximately 300 employees well before cutbacks, have influenced nearly 120 staff members, according to Indian Express. Well before cutbacks, the venture had 333 staff members, based on its LinkedIn.
The education technology unicorn paid INR 150 crore for Impartus in March 2021, and after that upGrad rechristened the venture as upGrad Premises. Inc42 has attained out to upGrad for further knowledge, and the narrative would be revised as quickly as the digital learning reacts. Following the purchase, Impartus founding partner Amit Mahensaria took on the position of COO at upGrad Premises, which works as a corporation autonomously. Surprisingly, the large percentage of the purchases made by Ronnie Screwvala’s corporation act autonomously.
The layoffs at upGrad Campus are the second at a subsidiary of the edtech unicorn led by Ronnie Screwvala. Harappa Education, which was acquired by upGrad in July 2022 for $38 million, laid off 40% of its workforce, or approximately 73 employees, in January. The news comes on the heels of upGrad CEO Arjun Mohan’s resignation after a three-year tenure at the edtech unicorn. Furthermore, upGrad’s losses increased threefold to INR 626.6 Cr in FY22 from INR 211.1 Cr in FY21. Despite a more than twofold increase in operating revenue to INR 679.2 Cr from INR 327.1 Cr in FY21, the edtech unicorn’s bottom line suffered.
Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravi jot Chugh founded upGrad in 2015, and it is backed by Temasek, Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, International Finance Corporation, and IIFL, among others. The edtech has raised over $600 million from investors and is valued at approximately $2.2 billion.
In collaboration with various universities, upGrad offers higher education courses. In 2021, it joined the unicorn club. The layoffs at upGrad Campus come as India’s edtech sector struggles to gain a significant market share following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reopening of schools, colleges, and coaching classes, combined with the ongoing funding freeze, has impacted edtech the most of any startup sector in India.
According to Inc42’s ‘Indian Startup Layoff Tracker,’ EdTech’s have fired 8,341 employees since the beginning of 2022. To put things in perspective, layoffs at edtech startups account for more than a third of all layoffs made by Indian startups thus far.
UPGRAD
upGrad is an online higher education platform that offers rigorous industry-relevant programmes developed and delivered in partnership with world-class faculty and industry. UpGrad is creating an immersive learning experience – anytime and anywhere – by combining the latest technology, pedagogy, and services.
