Edtech unicorn Unacademy will be letting go of 20% workforce from its subsidiary Relevel as the parent entity plans to pivot its upskilling platform’s core operations to build professional network NextLevel.
“Relevel’s core team will focus on building NextLevel. Almost 80% of Relevel’s remaining team will be absorbed by other businesses of Unacademy group and we will have to let go of around 20% (around 40 people) of the team because of the lack of availability of role for them,” according to an internal note shared with the employees.
A copy of the mail was reviewed by VCCircle.
Impacted staff will be given the same benefits as those who were sacked in November, the note said.
“Severance pay equivalent of notice period and an additional two months, accelerated vesting, medical insurance and placement support,” it said.
The internal mail also pointed that those enrolled in programs at Relevel, the job guarantee platform by Unacademy, will not be impacted, even as the focus of the team is expected to completely shift towards from the upskilling offerings to its test product, NextLevel.
NextLevel, backed by Unacademy, is a platform that allows job seekers showcase their expertise and relevant skills in a professional network that it not focused on “credentialing”.
The move comes soon after Unacademy fired about 10% of its workforce or about 350 employees in November last year, in its last round of layoffs during the year, crushing under the edtech sector’s woes amid a reopening of schools, weak macroeconomic conditions and a funding winter.
During its earlier round of layoffs in June 2022, when it fired about 150 employees, the firm’s chief executive Gaurav Munjal had assured that the edtech company won’t conduct any more layoffs during the year. However, in November, the CEO said, “the market challenges have forced us to re-evaluate our decisions. Funding has significantly slowed down and a large portion of our core business has moved offline.”
In April last year, it sacked about 600-800 employees from its sales and marketing team, along with a few contractual staff and educators or tutors. It had also sacked about 100 employees from PrepLadder team amid a restructuring of the organization.
This round is among the string of layoffs that have happened across startups in India, particularly those operating in the edtech space as they mount under the pressure to manage their costs in an environment where schools have gradually opened up, while funding activity remains tepid, blowing a hit to their profitability.
In a recent round of layoffs, unicorn Vedantu fired 385 people or about 11% of its workforce in December in the fourth round of layoffs in 2022. Similarly, upGrad-owned edtech firm Harappa Education also laid off 70 employees last week, amounting to nearly 35% of its total headcount, VCCircle reported.
