Unacademy Fires Another 250 Employees To Turn Profitable

Gaurav Munjal-led edtech startup Unacademy undertook another restructuring exercise last month, which resulted in 250 employees losing their jobs, sources told Inc42.

While 150 employees were from the sales department, who were fired for not being able to meet their “sales targets”, the remaining 100 employees were from various other departments, the sources said.

A spokesperson of Unacademy confirmed the development with Inc42 but didn’t disclose the number of employees impacted by the layoff round. 

“As part of our ongoing efforts to streamline operations and enhance business efficiency, we have recently undergone a restructuring exercise. This was necessary keeping in mind the company’s goals and vision for the year, as we focus all our efforts on sustainable growth and profitability. Consequently, some roles have been impacted. While this transition won’t be easy, we will be supporting all impacted individuals during this transition,” the spokesperson said.

Financial Express was the first to report the development. As per the report, around 600 employees were impacted by the restructuring exercise. 

It is pertinent to note that the latest restructuring exercise was an addition to the growing number of layoff rounds undertaken by Unacademy over the last couple of years. As per Inc42’s layoff tracker, Unacademy has laid off around 2,000 employees since the onset of the funding winter. 

In May this year, Inc42 exclusively reported that the startup’s medical entrance test preparation platform PrepLadder undertook a layoff exercise amid a shift in its sales strategy. Sources told Inc42 then that the NEET preparation platform laid off around 145 employees, which was almost 25% of its workforce. It was PrepLadder’s third round of layoffs in the past three years. 

Unacademy has been looking to raise funds for over a year now but hasn’t been successful so far. Recently, one of Unacademy’s cofounders, Hemesh Singh, stepped down from his executive role and moved to an advisory role. 

Singh, along with Munjal and Roman Saini, founded Unacademy in 2015. The Bengaluru-based startup claims to have a network of 91K registered educators (teachers) and over 99 Mn learners.

Sumit Jain, a partner at Unacademy, is reportedly going to replace Singh on the startup’s board seat.

Last month, Inc42 learnt that K-12 Techno Services held talks to acquire Unacademy. However, the talks are at initial stages.

Peak XV Partners-backed Unacademy narrowed its consolidated net loss by almost 40% to INR 1,678.1 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 2,847.9 Cr in the previous year, on the back of a sharp reduction in costs.

Unacademy Group has raised about $800 Mn in funding till date. Last valued at $3 Bn, the startup counts Tiger Global, Elevation Capital, General Atlantic, and Meta among its backers.