Edtech layoffs continue: Byju's, WhiteHat Jr, Toppr fire 2,500 employees
India's edtech industry hit another low as Byju's, the world's most-valued edtech company, slashed over 2,500 jobs across its group companies. Over 1,500 employees in Byju's-owned WhiteHat Jr and Toppr and another 1,000 in its core operation team were at the receiving end of new cost-cutting and restructuring efforts. This continues the growing trend of layoffs that has pervaded India's edtech sphere.
- As COVID-19 subsides, edtech start-ups in India are going through their worst slump ever.
- While these companies try to tackle student fallout and rising operational costs, the worst hit are employees who joined them with hopes and expectations.
- The once burgeoning industry is reeling under the wrath of its biggest competitors - physical schools and parents who want kids to use technology judiciously.
Toppr, Byjus's $150 million acquisition, is the worst affected by the layoff spree. Around 300-350 permanent employees and 600 contractual workers have been sacked. Another 300 were asked to tender their resignation or were told that they won't be paid for 1-1.5 months. Only about 100 employees are left at Toppr. The layoffs are attributed to the integration of Toppr with Byju's.
WhiteHat Jr was acquired by Byju's in 2020 for a cool $300 million. The coding platform saw 300 of its employees losing their jobs. There are reports of as many as 600 people in India and Brazil being laid off as part of the parent company's optimization efforts. WhiteHat Jr has been running on losses, posting a loss of Rs. 1,690 crore in FY21.
On top of laying off employees in companies it owns, Byju's is also clearing its own office. The company sent out e-mails to nearly 1,000 members of its core operations team. The most affected are those belonging to content, solution-writing, and design teams.
Byju's move to cut down thousands of jobs is attributed by the company to cost-cutting measures and the reduction of redundant roles. A spokesperson of the company said, "to recalibrate our business priorities and accelerate our long-term growth, we are optimizing our teams from our group companies." However, it is clear that Byju's large-scale layoffs are related to a suffering edtech sector.
Job cuts in the edtech industry are not limited to Byju's and its group companies. A normalizing COVID-19 situation has brought start-ups back to ground from their pandemic highs. Parents who were forced to enroll their children in online institutes due to pandemic-enforced restrictions are now switching to offline tuition centers. The changing environment has led to layoffs and forced resignations in edtech start-ups.
Over the last six months, several edtech start-ups have laid off their employees. It started with Lido Learning in February when the company asked over 1,200 employees to resign. This was followed by SoftBank-backed Unacademy and Tiger Global-backed Vedantu. The two unicorns slashed over 1,200 jobs between them. Other start-ups that followed their path include Frontrow, Eruditus, and Udayy.
Edtech companies are dealing with the crunch in their own ways. While smaller companies like Udayy and Lido Learning have decided to wind down their operations, others have resorted to streamlining their business. Unacademy, which forayed into the K-12 segment, shut down the operation in a few months. Similarly, Eruditus too have decided to shut down its non-core businesses this year.
