Deepika Padukone-Backed FrontRow Winds Up Operations

Lightspeed-backed FrontRow has become the third extracurricular activity startup, after Crejo.Fun and SuperLearn, to shut operations since the advent of the funding winter last year.

FrontRow, which was looking for an acquisition deal after laying off 90% of its workforce earlier, decided to shut its operations in mid-June, sources told Inc42.

The development was first reported by Tech Crunch.

FrontRow founder Ishaan Preet Singh told Inc42 that the startup is still exploring acquisition deals for its intellectual properties and staff. 

“We are still exploring potential acquisitions of the IP/team etc but also deciding whether it just makes more sense to return the capital and will decide that with the board in the next couple of months,” Singh told Inc42. 

FrontRow, founded in 2020 by Shubhadit Sharma, Mikhil Raj, and Ishaan Preet Singh after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, catered to the extracurricular activity market by offering courses on gaming, music creation, singing, rap, comedy, and cricket from Indian celebrities.

It raised around $17 Mn in two funding rounds. The startup’s last fundraise took place in September 2021. The funding round was led by Eight Roads Ventures, GSV, Lightspeed, and Elevation Capital, among others. 

FrontRow also counts Deepika Padukone, Kunal Shah, Gaurav Munjal, Vishal Dadlani, Raaftar, and Farid Ahsan among its backers. 

The startup aimed to follow the playbook of the US-based MasterClass, which partnered with celebrities to offer various courses. FrontRow roped in celebrities such as Amit Trivedi, Neha Kakkar, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Suresh Raina, Divine, among others, to teach students. 

Celebrity-led teaching has been a popular teaching model for Indian startups. Apart from Celebrity School, Kyt, and Mento, unicorns like Unacademy and BYJU’S have also tried their hands at it. While Unacademy launched Unacademy Icons for it, BYJU’S launched BYJU’S Xcel. However, it is not clear how successful this model has been for the unicorns.

The latest development comes at a time when the edtech sector has been the worst hit by the funding winter. As per Inc42 data, edtech startups have fired over 9,000 employees since last year.

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