upGrad-Owned KnowledgeHuts’ CEO, Cofounder Subramanyam Reddy Quits

The churn within the larger edtech sector continues as Subramanyam Reddy has stepped down as the chief executive officer (CEO) of upGrad-owned upskilling platform KnowledgeHut. 

In a statement, an upGrad spokesperson said that Reddy’s employment was mutually terminated on December 5 without any notice period. Reddy’s LinkedIn bio also reflects that he left the company in December 2023.

Meanwhile, the edtech unicorn has appointed former BYJU’S Tuition Centre executive Asheesh Sharma as the new president of short courses and bootcamps at KnowledgeHut. He took charge of the new position on Tuesday (January 2). 

In his new role, Sharma, as per the company, will lead international expansion and will also be responsible for shoring up financial growth. 

“upGrad and its division Head, Subramanyam Reddy of erstwhile Knowledgehut have mutually decided to terminate the employment, effective December 5th 2023 with no notice period…We are pleased to announce the appointment of Asheesh Sharma – President, Short Courses and Bootcamps, effective 2nd January 2024,” a company spokesperson told Entrackr, which reported the development first.

Reddy’s exit comes more than two years after upGrad acquired the upskilling startup (in August 2021) for an undisclosed amount. 

He founded KnowledgeHut in 2011 along with Madhavarapu Nagaraju and Manjunath V. It offers upskilling courses for individuals and businesses and has operations in 70 countries spanning six continents. 

While Nagaraju left the startup in the wake of the acquisition in 2021, Manjunath currently heads the company’s business strategy and marketing. 

Major Rejig At upGrad

Reddy’s departure and Sharma’s appointment add to the growing list of new senior-level exits and appointments at upGrad in the recent past. In 2023 alone, the company appointed Avnish Datt as the new chief business officer (CBO) at upGrad Harappa and Ipshita Kajla as HR head for upGrad Abroad. 

Previously, it had also appointed Raj Dogra as the new chief information officer at the company, while Rajiv Singh was hired as the vice president for new initiatives.

2023 also saw upGrad CEO Arjun Mohan jumping ship to BYJU’S as the new CEO for international business. Later on, Varun Garg, the president of Learning Experience at the Ronnie Screwvala-led unicorn, also resigned and joined Nandan Nilekani-founded non-profit organisation EkStep.

Reddy’s departure came days after the Mumbai-based edtech unicorn reported its FY23 financial results, which saw losses zoom 76% YoY to INR 1,141.5 Cr during the fiscal. This came largely on the back of the goodwill writedown of INR 410 Cr that hit the company’s bottom line. 

However, operating revenue crossed the INR 1,000 Cr mark to INR 1,169.6 Cr in FY23, up 97% from INR 595 Cr in FY22.

Reddy’s departure is emblematic of the churn being witnessed in the homegrown edtech sector. From BYJU’S to Unacademy, most Indian edtech players have seen top-level exits as funding winter reigns supreme and government tightens regulatory screws around the industry. 

As per Inc42 data, funding for the sector cratered 88% to $283 Mn in 2023, a far cry from $2.4 Bn raised in 2022. 

With capital taps running dry, Indian edtech companies have resorted to mass layoffs (14,616 since 2022) and have shelved expansion plans. Some of these companies have even shut shop, while others have focussed their energies more on offline expansion even as growth stagnates in the online segment. 

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