Unacademy: Growth, Profitability & Layoffs in 2023

New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) The ongoing year will be the best period in terms of growth and profitability for Unacademy, the co-founder and CEO of the edtech company, which has laid off 250 employees, said on Wednesday.

Amid claims that the edtech company is up for sale, Unacademy Co-Founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal in a social media post asserted that the management is building the company for the long run.

"There is a lot being said about Unacademy currently. To set the record straight, Unacademy will have its best year in terms of growth and profitability. We also have many years of runway. We are building Unacademy for the long run," Munjal said on social media platform X.

The company has laid off around 250 employees comprising 150 sales personnel who were asked to leave for not meeting performance criteria, according to sources privy to the development.

A source said that the company had laid off only about 100 employees and they have been given severance packages while sales employees have to leave for not meeting performance criteria.

When contacted, a Unacademy spokesperson said that the lay-off is part of the company's ongoing efforts to streamline operations and enhance business efficiency.

"We have recently undergone a restructuring exercise. This was necessary keeping in mind the company's goals and vision for the year, as we focus all our efforts on sustainable growth and profitability. Consequently, some roles have been impacted. While this transition won't be easy, we will be supporting all impacted individuals during this transition," the spokesperson said.

The company has laid off staff in post-Covid years. The employee count at Unacademy has almost halved to 3,000 from a peak employee base of 6,000.

Backed by marquee investors such as General Atlantic, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia), Facebook and Softbank, Unacademy started laying off employees in 2022 after the company faced shortage of funds.

The company has raised around Rs 6,400 crore from investors in multiple funding round.

There are claims that investors of Unacademy have discussed the sale of the company to an education services company K-12 Techno but marquee investors of Unacademy denied the reports.

Unacademy posted revenue of about Rs 1,044 crore and a loss of Rs 1,678 crore in 2022-23. The company is now left with around Rs 1,500 crore cash in banks.

Last week, Gaurav Munjal on social media platform X spoke about his experience in the previous two years. He said that while taking tough decisions, "don't hide behind silent layoffs or more such sophisticated things. Be transparent above all."

Munjal also spoke about Byju's in his tweet.

"Byju failed because he didn't listen to anyone. He put himself on a pedestal and stopped listening. Don't do that. Never do that. Don't listen to everyone but have people who can give you blunt feedback," he said..

He said that at tough times increase transparency by 10 times with investors and team members.

Munjal in his experience notes shared that the valuations in 2021 were bloated.

He also said that while some investors are assets, there are some who are liabilities and the trick lies in in figuring out the ones who are assets.