In its third bout since May, online tutor Vedantu has laid off 100 employees as part of a restructuring exercise, two people aware of the development told VCCircle.
Employees from teams like training and sales were affected, the company has provided two months of severance, said one of the individuals cited above on condition of anonymity.
Vedantu declined to comment. News website Inc42 first reported the development.
In May, Vedantu sacked around 424 employees or 7% of its total 5,600 staff.
Chief executive officer Vamsi Krishna in a response to the May layoff drive, cited a tough external environment, impending recession fears and the interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve leading inflationary pressures
He also said that the hyper growth of 9 times experienced by Vedantu during the last two years will also get moderated as Covid-19 tailwinds recede and offline schools re-open.
Interestingly, the online education platform is also hiring more than 1,000 employees in various teams including over 100 for similar positions, a Vedantu spokesperson said in May.
Founded in 2011 by Vamsi Krishna, Anand Prakash and Pulkit Jain, Vedantu became the fifth digital learning startup in India to hit unicorn status after raising $100 million (Rs 740 crore) in its Series E round led by Singapore-based impact investor ABC World Asia in September last year.
A unicorn is a startup with a valuation of $1 billion or more.
The demand for online education services has seen a hit post-pandemic which was also the reason why the edtech companies witnessed its hyper-growth.
In March and April, Unacademy, operated by Sorting Hat Technologies Pvt. Ltd, laid off nearly 800 employees. Unacademy followed up by putting 150 employees on a performance improvement plan in June.
In February, startup Mumbai-based Lido Learning shut shop after letting go 900-1,200 employees on a “virtual Zoom townhall”.
Last month, Byju’s asked around 500 employees to resign from its subsidiaries Toppr and Whitehat Jr as it starts looking at ways to reduce costs and streamline the process of integrating various units.
Besides edtech, the broader startup ecosystem has also suffered large layoffs with companies like Frontrow, Meesho, Citymall, Mobile Premier League, Cars24, Mfine, Furlenco and Trell firing employees over the past few months.
