Edtech major, Vedantu, has laid off 385 employees across functions in its fourth round of layoffs, majorly impacting employees in human resources, learning & content, and sales enablement teams, according to two sources close to the development, who spoke to businessline on the condition of anonymity.
Vedantu laid off 724 employees across three other rounds of layoffs in 2022. As of now, the company has about 3300 employees. One of the sources quoted above said, “the fresh round of layoffs happened because of the market environment and the impact on online businesses across the sector. Vedantu is seeing good growth in its hybrid teaching model and is now focusing on reducing its fixed costs as the company aims to become IPO ready. Vedantu has a runway for next 18 months.”
The source added that laid-off employees are given a minimum of two months notice period and severance pay depending on their contracts. Vedantu did not respond to businessline queries on the matter.
In May, Krishna’s email noted that May layoffs are a “one-time activity with no further cycles going forward.” He added that Vedantu wanted to build a longer capital runway given the uncertainties of the outside world and the tightening of capital availability expected for the next few quarters.
Funding winter has had a harsh impact on late-stage companies, with edtech amounting to the highest number of start-up layoffs in India. Unicorn companies like Byju’s, Unacademy, and Udaan have done multiple rounds of layoffs in 2022 in an attempt to secure runways, cut costs, and become profitable.
As the funding winter continues for over six months, late-stage tech companies are seeing their valuations drop by almost 40 per cent. “Tech companies have been impacted more as compared to others. For example, we have seen high markdowns in edtech. That’s why you see companies laying off employees to improve the profitability and retain their valuations,” Umakanta Panigrahi, MD, Valuation Advisory Services, Kroll told businessline in an earlier conversation. Entrackr was the first to report this development.