As for the layoffs at Topper, which Byju’s acquired last year for $150 million, the edtech giant confirmed the development, saying that it has “completed the integration of Topper, and has moved about 80% of its talented workforce to Byju’s.” absorbed into the ecosystem”.
After the acquisition was completed, Topper’s sales and marketing department staff were retained while others were asked to leave.
As a next step, a company spokesperson said, “We [Byju’s] Re-examining business priorities and optimizing teams to accelerate long-term growth”.
Earlier, online coding provider WhiteHat Jr., another subsidiary of Byju’s, which it acquired for $300 million, laid off about 300 employees. More than 1,000 of its employees resigned in April-May after being asked to return to office.
This time, most of the fired workers were from the code-learning and sales teams, and some of them worked in Brazil.
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In a statement, the company said: “In order to align with our business priorities, we are optimizing our team to accelerate results and best position the business for long-term growth.”
layoff Byju’s comes amid reports that it delayed payments as part of its $1 billion acquisition of Aakash Educational Services in 2021. The company responded that the acquisition process was “on track and expected to be completed by August”.
“Aakash is our most successful acquisition to date and we are extremely proud to have them on board,” the spokesperson said. “As with all of our group companies, we are fully positioned to provide access to quality education in all learning areas – from elementary education to exam preparation and career success.”
Aakash Educational Services provides exam preparation services for Medical & Engineering Entrance Exams, School / Board Exams and other exams through Aakash Centers.
EdTech Unicorn made at least 10 acquisitions last year for a cumulative transaction value of approximately $2.5 billion.
More than 10,000 employees have been laid off by edtech startups like Unacademy, WhiteHat Jr, Vedantu, FrontRow, Udayy, Lido Learning and others. As the region grapples with the global macroeconomic conditions, along with the reopening of schools, colleges and physical learning centres.