Edtech unicorn LEAD (formerly LEAD School) has sacked employees in another round of layoff. Although the company did not confirm the layoff, it has reportedly sacked 60 employees from tech and product teams.
In August 2022, the strength of certain teams were slashed by 40 per cent.
The company spokesperson, in a statement, said, “We have grown 2X this year and are hiring for growth. If projects don’t meet success criteria or don’t fit our strategic roadmap, teams are either re-assigned or asked to seek other opportunities. This is a regular business activity and a normal churn of 1-2 per cent in an organisation of 2,000 people.”
This comes as the Indian start-up ecosystem is braving a funding winter, post the euphoria in 2021.
The ed-tech reportedly recorded revenue of ₹141.6 crore in FY22, which was double the revenue in FY21. It’s loss, however, widened three times from the previous year at ₹397.1 crore for FY22.
LEAD was valued at $1.1 billion in a $100-million funding round announced earlier this year. Founded by Sumeet Yashpal Mehta and Smita Deorah in 2012, LEAD has built a full-stack school edtech solution. The company combines technology, curriculum, and pedagogy into an integrated system of teaching and learning to improve student learning outcomes and teacher performance in schools across the country. It had earlier said it entered academic year 2022-23 with 5,000 schools across 500+ cities in India and an annual revenue run-rate of $80 million.