Exclusive: Lightspeed-Backed Teachmint Fires Over 70 Employees In 2nd Round Of Layoffs

Bengaluru-based edtech startup Teachmint has now joined the growing list of startups that have conducted their second round of layoffs since the onset of funding winter. The Lightspeed-backed edtech startup has now laid off over 70 employees, sources told Inc42. 

Employees were informed about the layoffs in a town hall held by the top management, including founders on Thursday (May 4, 2023), sources privy to the matter informed Inc42. 

Employees working in talent acquisition, tech, and support roles; and quality analysts were impacted during this round of layoff. 

According to sources, the number of sacked employees could much higher. The startup is offering three months’ salary as a severance package to the impacted employees, a source claimed. 

Teachmint confirmed the layoffs to Inc42 without disclosing the number of impacted employees. In a statement, the startup said that they working to provide support to the impacted employees. 

“Some roles have been unfortunately impacted as we work on increasing structural efficiencies in our operations. We have proactively communicated to the impacted colleagues and are working on providing them comprehensive support,” Teachmint spokesperson said in a statement.

The layoffs have come almost five months after the startup let go of around 45 employees as part of its restructuring exercises. 

Given the current education/edtech landscape, several startups in this space are going through hard times. Teachmint, too, has been facing difficulties in generating revenue and controlling costs. 

The startup’s net loss surged 24X to INR 131.7 Cr in FY22 from INR 5.5 Cr in FY21, while its revenue from operations stood at INR 77.45 Lakhs in FY22. The startup’s first year of operations was FY22. 

The startup’s FY22 advertising expenses also grew 14X to INR 36.76 Cr from INR 2.66 Cr in FY21. In recent times, the startup has also cut down on its marketing expenses to increase the cash runway. 

In between all this, Teachmint’s cofounder and CTO Anshuman Kumar also quit the edtech startup in March to focus on his new venture Duolop.

Founded in 2020 by Mihir Gupta, Payoj Jain, Divyansh Bordia and Kumar, Teachmint is an online, video-first teaching platform that helps teachers digitise their classrooms. It is backed by the likes of Lightspeed India, Rocketship.vc, Goodwater Capital and Better Capital, among other marquee investors. To date, the startup has raised over $118 Mn in multiple rounds.

In October 2021, the startup had raised $78 Mn in its Series B led Rocketship.vc and Vulcan Capital at over $500 Mn valuation. 

Since the beginning of 2022, around 20 edtech startups have conducted layoffs to cut costs to remain afloat in these testing times. As per Inc42 layoff tracker, over 9,000 employees have been laid off from the edtech sector alone.