Edtech unicorn UpGrad has laid off nearly 120 employees at a subsidiary that it had acquired in 2021, making it one of the several edtech firms that have resorted to various restructuring and cost-cutting measures during the ongoing funding winter.
FE has learnt from sources that the layoffs affected at least 30% of the 300 employees of Impartus Innovations, a video-learning solutions provider that UpGrad had acquired in 2021 for Rs 150 crore in a cash and stock deal.
UpGrad spokesperson and Impartus co-founder Amit Mahensaria did not respond to an email query sent early last week.
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UpGrad has made at least 14 acquisitions to date. In 2022, it made around five acquisitions, including upskilling platform Harappa Education for $38 million, and data science institute INSOFE for $33 million.
UpGrad acquired Impartus in 2021 and subsequently launched UpGrad Campus, which aims to provide educational institutions with the technology and resources necessary to offer online courses. The source quoted above added that Impartus’s tech platform was amalgamated into UpGrad Campus after the acquisition.
This is the second instance of layoffs at an UpGrad-owned subsidiary after around 70 employees at Harappa Education in December 2022.
Indian edtech startups have been struggling to raise capital at the same pace as they did in 2021. Edtech funding in CY21 hit a record high of $4.2 billion across 310 rounds, much higher than the $2.3 billion raised across 220 rounds in CY19. In CY22, the total capital infusion into edtechs nearly halved to CY21, according to Tracxn data.
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The edtech industry topped the list of sectors that conducted the highest number of layoffs in 2022. More than 18,000 employees are believed to have lost their jobs in the sector so far due to a downturn in the market. Large edtech firms such as Byju’s, Unacademy and Vedantu, among others, have reportedly slashed as many as 7,000 jobs.
UpGrad, founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli, has raised over $600 million from Temasek, Bharti Enterprises and Bodhi Tree, among others, and is valued at around $2.2 billion. In FY22, UpGrad reported a net loss of Rs 568.62 crore which widened 180% from Rs 202.37 crore in FY21. The company’s revenue from operations increased 67% to Rs 502.11 crore in FY22 from Rs 300.21 crore in FY21.