Aayush PathakFamous edtech startup Vedantu has given pink slips to 100 employees in the month of July as part of a business reorganization process. Vedantu requested that full-time workers from different teams turn in their documents between July 4 and July 9. This is the 3rd time the business has fired employees. In May 2022, it terminated 624 full-time and contractual employees in 2 phases, representing 10% of its total staff.
According to a number of reports and sources, the corporation offered two months of compensation to concerned workers from the sales and training divisions, who have been hit the most because of this lay off. Vamsi Krishna, the CEO of the online learning platform, had claimed earlier in May that in light of a “tough external environment,” this was among the “toughest decisions” the business had to make. The “war in Europe, imminent recession fears, and Fed rate interest hikes… along with inflationary pressures with massive correction in stocks globally and in India” all served to worsen this.
He had further said, “capital will be scarce for upcoming quarters. With COVID tailwinds receding, schools and offline models opening up, the hyper-growth of 9X, Vedantu experienced during the last 2 years will also get moderated. For the long-term sustenance of the mission, V would need to adapt too.”
Ironically, a Vedantu spokesman had stated in May that the virtual learning portal is indeed seeking more than 1,000 staff members for different teams, including over Hundred for similar roles. In May 2022, the company employed a total of about 5,900 people. The most recent wave of layoffs brought the total number of employees it will terminate in 2022 to 724.
Edtech businesses efficiently and rapidly hired additional consumers throughout the outbreak period of COVID. This expanding number of subscribers brought in a continuous flow of funding from investors, and start-ups began ramping up employment to stay current with their ambitious development ambitions.
With the reinstatement of physical schools and teaching facilities, they have now run into a hurdle. In the continuing financing recession, Edtech has experienced the biggest number of layoffs, particularly the K12 sector. All of the big firms, including Vedantu, Byju’s, Unacademy, and Eruditus, have made layoffs recently.
Vedantu, which was created in 2011 by Vamsi Krishna, Anand Prakash, and Pulkit Jain, raised $100 million (Rs 740 crore) in its Series E round, which was backed by Singapore-based impact investor ABC World Asia, to become the fifth digital learning firm in India to achieve unicorn status. A startup with a $1 billion or higher valuation is referred to as a unicorn.