Mar 7, 2023

Edtech unicorn upGrad has sacked 30 per cent of its workforce i.e., 120 employees at a subsidiary that it had acquired in 2021 in its recent cost-cutting measure. upGrad Campus, which was previously known as  Impartus , was acquired by Ronnie Screwvala's backed upGrad in 2021 for ₹150 crore. The layoffs affected at least 120 of the 300 employees of upGrad Campus, a video-learning solutions provider, according to a Financial Express report. This is also the second layoff at an upGrad-owned company. Harappa Education, which was acquired by upGrad for ₹300 crore in July 2022, laid off 30 per cent of its workforce in January, affecting nearly 60 employees, according to the report. Impartus co-founder Amit Mahensaria assumed the role of the chief operating officer at upGrad Campus, which operated independently as a subsidiary after the acquisition. upGrad, founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli, has has made at least 14 acquisitions to date. In 2022, it acquired around five companies, including upskilling platform Harappa Education for $38 million, and data science institute INSOFE for $33 million. Ed-tech unicorn Byju' s laid off nearly 1,500 employees in its second round of layoffs. Last year, the Byju Raveendran-led startup sacked around 2,500 employees. Edtech startups in India have laid off thousands of employees in the past year and have been unable to raise funding as a slowdown gripped the market.