Another Edtech firm lays off 300; Startup slump continues in India

Updated: Oct 16th, 2023

Startup Slump in India (img: Freepik)

Google-backed edtech platform Adda247 has laid off around 250-300 employees across verticals, as per reports, on Oct 14.

According to reports, citing sources, about 100 to 150 employees were laid off from StudyIQ, a UPSC-focused edtech platform acquired by the company for about $20m (₹166.52 cr) in Dec 2021.

About 150 employees were laid off in major verticals, including sales and content. This is the company’s first layoff in several years.

Adda247’s rise and fall

Founded by Anil Nagar and Saurabh Bansal in 2016, Adda247 caters to the learning needs of millions of students from tier 2 and 3 cities.

As per the report, the laid-off employees were asked to resign without any prior notice.

In October last year, Adda247 raised $35m (₹291.4 cr) in a round led by WestBridge Capital. The round saw Google as a new investor. The funding round also saw participation from existing investors, including Info Edge and Asha Impact.

Major layoffs in Indian startups

Edtech major Byju’s recently announced plans to lay off 4,000-5,000 employees in a “business restructuring exercise”. The startup has eliminated more than 10,000 positions in the last two years.

This indicates the trend observed in the last 24 months, where 1,400 startups in India have laid off a total of nearly 91,000 employees. 17,000 layoffs were seen in startups till September this year.

As per some startup ecosystem experts, a drastic drop in investments in the segment has forced companies to lay off employees.

In the first half of 2023, investments in startups reached $3.8bn (₹31,640.5 cr), but it was shadowed by last year’s investments of $18.3bn (₹1,52,362.7 cr). This shows a drastic decrease of 80% in investments in the startup market.

According to several reports, startups were getting funding every 3 hours in 2022, whereas in 2023 they are getting funding every 10 hours.

(With inputs from IANS)

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