International Tax Panorama

Recently Edtech unicorn upGrad has laid off 120 employees, which is almost 30 per cent of the total workforce, at its subsidiary that was acquired in 2021.

A Tracxn report has estimated that 7,000-8,000 employees have been fired by edtech start-ups in this period, including, BYJU’S, Toppr, WhiteHat Jr, Unacademy, Vedantu, Practically. 

On the other hand other players like Lido Learning, Udayy, Crejo.Fun, SuperLearn, etc., have also wound up operations due to continuing capital crunch and shifting consumer preferences. 

One of the major factors behind the edtech meltdown in 2023 is the slowdown in funding.

Last year, edtech companies raised $3.1 billion from 182 rounds, much lower than the $5.4 billion raised in 2021 from 331 rounds.

Indian edtech platforms are also facing the problem of insurmountable losses. For example BYJU’S, the world’s biggest edtech platform, is also mulling shutting down WhiteHat Jr, its $300 million acquisition, owing to increasing losses.

Once the pandemic mellowed down, schools and tuition centers reopened. This is where things went wrong for several edtech companies.

They did not imagine people abandoning them en masse, but that’s what happened.