Unacademy sacks 12% staff in latest round of layoffs

Edtech startup Unacademy has fired 12% of its workforce, or 380 employees, in the latest round of layoffs.

This comes over four months after the edtech unicorn laid off 350 employees, or 10% of its workforce, in November last year. Unacademy, valued at $3.4 billion, had cut 600 jobs in April 2022.

Gaurav Munjal, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Unacademy, announced the layoffs in a Slack message to employees.

"We have taken every step in the right decision to make our core business profitable, yet it's not enough. We have to go further, we have to go deeper," Munjal writes. "Unfortunately, this has led me to take another difficult decision. We will be reducing the size of our team by 12% to ensure that we can meet the goals we are chasing in the current realities we face. I did not anticipate I would have to do this again, and I'm very sorry," he says.

"Today's reality is a contrast from two years ago where we saw unprecedented growth because of accelerated adoption of online learning. Today, the global economy is enduring a recession, funding is scare and running a profitable business is key. We have to adapt to these changes, build and operate in a much leaner manner so we can truly create value for our users and shareholders," he adds.

The Bengaluru-based startup on Wednesday hived off programming learning platform CodeChef, which it acquired in 2020, citing macroeconomic conditions. Unacademy, however, will hold a 30% stake in the new hived-off entity as an investor and has also infused an initial capital that will help it function over the next 12-18 months.

Unacademy began embracing frugality to turn cash flow positive last year. In an email to employees in July 2022, CEO Gaurav Munjal said there are a lot of unnecessary expenses which the company must cut in order to turn profitable. The startup's founders and top management also took a salary cut. "We spend crores on travel for employees and educators. Sometimes it's needed, sometimes it's not. There are a lot of unnecessary expenses that we do. We must cut all these expenses. We have a strong core business. We must turn profitable asap," Munjal said.

Unacademy CEO had also said that the startup will stop offering business class travel to employees and stop complimentary meals and snacks at its offices.

India's largest edtech startup Byju's too reportedly laid off around 1,000 employees in February, mainly from design, engineering, and production verticals.

Edtech companies in the country have sacked around 6,500 employees in 2022, according to a report by Traxcn.