upGrad Campus Fires 30% Of Workforce Amid Prolonged Funding Winter

SUMMARY

Nearly 120 employees have been impacted by the layoffs at the upGrad subsidiary which had around 300 employees before

upGrad acquired Impartus in March 2021 for INR 150 Cr, following which upGrad rebranded the startup to upGrad Campus

Earlier in January, upGrad’s Harappa Education fired nearly 40% of its staff, or around 73 employees amid the ongoing funding winter

Video learning platform upGrad Campus becomes the next site for layoffs, having fired 30% of its total workforce.

Nearly 120 employees have been impacted by the layoffs at the upGrad subsidiary which had around 300 employees before the layoffs, Indian Express reported. According to the startup’s LinkedIn profile, it had 333 employees before the layoffs.

The edtech unicorn acquired Impartus in March 2021 for INR 150 Cr, following which upGrad rebranded the startup to upGrad Campus.

Inc42 has reached out to upGrad for details on the matter and the story will be updated as and when the edtech responds.

Following the acquisition, Impartus cofounder Amit Mahensaria took over the role of the COO at upGrad Campus, which operates independently as a subsidiary. Interestingly, most of the Ronnie Screwvala-led company’s acquisitions operate independently.

The layoffs at upGrad Campus are the second one at a subsidiary of the Ronnie Screwvala-led edtech unicorn. In January, Harappa Education, which was acquired by upGrad in July 2022 for $38 Mn, fired 40% of the workforce or about 73 employees.

The development also comes after upGrad CEO Arjun Mohan resigned from his position, following a three-year stint at the edtech unicorn.

Further, upGrad’s losses spiked 3X to INR 626.6 Cr in FY22 from INR 211.1 Cr in FY21. The edtech unicorn’s bottom line took a hit despite an over 2X rise in operating revenue to INR 679.2 Cr from INR 327.1 Cr reported in FY21.

Founded in 2015 by Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli and Ravijot Chugh, upGrad is backed by the likes of Temasek, Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, International Finance Corporation, IIFL, among others. The edtech has raised over $600 Mn from investors and is valued at around $2.2 Bn.

upGrad provides higher education courses in collaboration with various universities. It entered the unicorn club in 2021.

The layoffs at upGrad Campus come as India’s edtech sector is struggling to capture a significant market share following the COVID-19 pandemic subsiding. The reopening of schools, colleges and coaching classes, coupled with the ongoing funding winter, has hit edtech the worst among all startup sectors in India.

Per Inc42’s ‘Indian Startup Layoff Tracker’, edtechs alone have fired 8,341 employees since the start of 2022. For some context, layoffs at edtech startups account for more than a third of total layoffs done by Indian startups so far.