Lightspeed-Backed Edtech FrontRow Looking For Acquisition After Laying Off 90% Employees

Bengaluru-based non-academic upskilling startup FrontRow is evaluating acquisition deals amid a funding winter that has battered startups across the ecosystem.

In a statement sent to Inc42, FrontRow’s cofounder Ishaan Preet Singh confirmed the news saying that the startup was in talks with multiple parties and would take a call on the matter over the next few months.

“… we’re having multiple conversations on what’s the best place for the company, including whether the market is large enough to support an independent player or whether this fits better within a larger multi-category company. We’ll be figuring this out over the next couple of months,” said Singh.

The development was first reported by Entrackr.

The move from FrontRow follows two rounds of layoffs at the startup in May and October last year, leading to the exodus of nearly 90% of its employees. Currently, FrontRow is only left with 35 employees across multiple teams. The startup has also asked the remaining staff members to seek other jobs as FrontRow undertakes a major cost-cutting drive.

While Entrackr reported that the upskilling platform was only left with a few months of runway, the cofounder Singh claimed the startup had around three years of runway still.

“We’ve also kept the team in the loop here, and are helping some of them find alternate jobs if they’d like. This isn’t a capital or runway question (we have over 3 years of runway), it’s more about making sure that when you raise capital with a vision of building a large-scale business, you are honest on whether that’s doable in a particular market as you learn more,” said Singh.

He also added that the company went back to being a ‘seed company’ in November 2022 and ran three to four experiments to find the product-market fit in spaces such as career-oriented learning for adults and offline holistic development for kids. 

Some of them, particularly the kids’ offline piece, are encouraging with a lot of user love, but still very early.

Founded by Singh (formerly with Lightspeed), Mikhil Raj and Shubhadit Sharma in 2020, FrontRow started as a learning platform for creative arts, hobbies and sports during the pandemic as online learning quickly picked up momentum.

The startup made headlines when it raised $3.2 Mn in its seed round from Lightspeed India, Elevation Capital and Deepika Padukone’s family office in November 2020, which was followed by a $14 Mn Series A round in September 2021. 

In all, the edtech startup has raised $17.1 Mn in funding across two funding rounds.

FrontRow is evaluating acquisition deals at a time when India’s edtech startups have been buckling under the increasing competition from offline and online options alike. In particular, the K-12 and competition prep segments have suffered the worst. 

While edtech will become a $29 Bn market opportunity come 2030, per Inc42’s ‘Inside India’s $29 BN+ Edtech Opportunity’ report, edtech funding has declined drastically over the recent few months.