BENGALURU: Layoff continues in ed-tech space as two start-ups have fired employees citing restructuring exercise. Online math learning platform Cuemath, which is backed by Sequoia Capital, has laid off 100 employees out of its total employee strength of 800, according to sources.
The company’s founder Manan Khurma will return as its full-time CEO, and its current CEO Vivek Sunder will transition from his full-time role to an advisory capacity. “The edtech ecosystem is seeing an inflection point - conservative capital markets, rapidly changing technology & AI ecosystems, and so on.
The path forward for education companies - including Cuemath - needs to be anchored in creating learning outcomes for the end stakeholder - the student,” Khurma said in a LinkedIn post. He said the company will continue to invest ‘thoughtfully’ and hire strategically. In June last year, it raised $57 million in a round led by Alpha Wave, and its valuation stood at $407 million.
From Vedantu, Unacademy to Byju’s many start-ups have laid off employees. After laying off 45 employees recently, Teachmint has laid off another 70. A spokesperson at Teachmint said some roles have been unfortunately impacted as the company works on increasing structural efficiencies in its operations. The start-up said it will offer employees three-month payroll support, six months of health insurance benefits and nine months ESOPs vesting to be accelerated for eligible teachmates.
In March, in its latest cost-cutting measure, SoftBank-backed Unacademy fired nearly 380 employees or 12% of its workforce. This is the fourth round of layoffs, as the unicorn in November fired 350 employees or 10% of its workforce.
In the internal memo to employees, Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO, of Unacademy Group, said, “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. This has led me to take another difficult decision.” He said today, the global economy is enduring a recession, funding is scarce and running a profitable business is key.
Payroll support
Teachmint will offer employees three-month payroll support, six months of health insurance benefits and nine months ESOPs vesting to be accelerated for eligible teachmates. In March, Unacademy fired nearly 380 employees or 12% of its workforce