Edtech unicorn, Vedantu is going to fire another 385 employees as it prepares to turn profitable and aims to be IPO ready by financial year (FY) 2026, according to people in the know.

“Vedantu is firing around 385 employees across operations, sales and the human resource departments. Even senior management employees will be impacted by this decision,” one of the people cited above said. Vedantu has also asked certain employees to voluntarily resign to avoid laying them off, some workers alleged.

“Vedantu is aiming to turn profitable and file for an IPO by FY26 for which it will have to reduce expenses, so the company will be letting go of around 385 employees. Vedantu, however, has a cash runway of about 18 months,” another person aware of the company’s plans said.

The cost reduction exercise comes shortly after Vedantu, in two phases, had sacked 624 staffers in May. At that time, Vamsi Krishna, co-founder and chief executive officer, Vedantu said, “…I am writing to you on one of the toughest decisions V had to take over the past many years. It is days like these that are heart breaking and I hope to never see them again.”

This comes at a time when Vedantu is strengthening its hybrid learning model and has also acquired a majority stake in Deeksha, a group which operates several schools and colleges primarily in the south of India, for $40 million in October.

News website, Entrackr was first to report about the layoffs.

So far in 2022, new-age companies have axed over 17,000 jobs, with predictions that the number would increase further by end of this year. While companies across sectors have cut jobs, edtech firms have been particularly hit as demand for online education wanes. Edtech startups like BYJU’S, Vedantu, FrontRow and Unacademy have alone slashed over 7,000 jobs.

In FY21 – the latest available financials – Vedantu had seen its revenue grow about 4X year-on-year (y-o-y) to touch Rs 94 crore. At the same time, its losses, which also jumped by around 4X y-o-y, soared to Rs 604 crore. Vedantu did not respond to an email seeking details about the decision.