Byju's cuts 600 jobs across Toppr and WhiteHat Jr as Indian
edtech space shrinks
Online learning giant Byju’s cut 600 positions as the Indian ed-tech market shrank, including 300 from its learning platform Toppr and another 300 from its coding platform WhiteHat Jr.
The edtech giant acknowledged the layoff at Toppr, which Byju acquired last year for $150 million, stating that it had “completed the integration of Toppr and has absorbed approximately 80% of its skilled team of employees into the Byju’s ecosystem.”
Even though others had been invited to take over, Toppr’s personnel from the sales, advertising, and marketing divisions were kept on after the acquisition.
According to the firm official, the second stage is “we [Byju’s] are optimizing groups to realign business goals and accelerate long-term growth.” Before that, WhiteHat Jr., another Byju subsidiary that received $300 million, let go of about 300 employees. More than 1,000 of its workers left the company in April after being asked to return to work.
This time, most of those let go belonged to the sales and code-teaching departments, and some worked in Brazil.
According to a statement from the employer, “We’re optimizing our group to accelerate outcomes and the fantastic role of the business for long-term growth” to better align with the company’s aims.
Byju’s layoffs coincide with reports that the company is having billing issues related to its $1 billion acquisition of Aakash educational services in 2021. According to the organization’s response, the acquisition process has “become on course and is anticipated to be finished by August.”
The spokesperson said, “Aakash is our most successful purchase to date, and we’re delighted to have them in our fold. “Along with all of our group firms, we continue to be perfectly placed to offer access to high-quality education in all mastering segments, from early learning to exam prep and professional achievement.”
Through Aakash Centers, the academic offerings of Aakash provide test preparation services for clinical and engineering front examinations, school/board assessments, and other exams.
In the previous 12 months, the tech unicorn made at least ten acquisitions for a total transaction fee of almost $2.5 billion.
With the help of ed-tech businesses like Unacademy, WhiteHat Jr, Vedantu, FrontRow, Udayy, Lido Mastering, and others, more than 10,000 employees were put off. The sector has struggled with the global macroeconomic environment while reopening colleges, schools, and physical education facilities.
