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Two more well-funded start-ups, BYJU’S-owned WhiteHat Jr and B2B e-commerce unicorn Udaan, have laid off hundreds of employees amid global funding crunch.
While the companies did not comment on the number of employees being laid off, sources said WhiteHat Jr is estimated to have laid off 300 employees and Udaan has let go 180. An online publication was first to report this development.
“To realign with our business priorities, we are optimising our team to accelerate results and best position the business for long-term growth. WhiteHat Jr continues to put students first and invest in building a high-quality teacher’s network,” said a company spokesperson.
Funding winter
Earlier this year, over 800 employees had reportedly resigned from WhiteHat Jr after they were asked to work from office. Funding winter has been particularly harsh for edtech companies focusing on K12 segment. In the past few months, over 2,000 employees have been laid off from edtech companies including the likes of Vedantu, Unacademy and Eruditus, among others. The funding crunch has even led smaller companies such as Lido Learning and Udayy to shut operations.
Layoffs are a growing trend across the larger start-up ecosystem too given the uncertainties of the outside world and tightening of capital availability. More and more companies are rationalising their expenses in order to ensure a longer capital runway.
Commenting on the layoffs at the B2B ecommerce company, a Udaan spokesperson said, “We have taken various steps to enhance efficiency, refine our cost structure and grow faster in our journey to achieve strong unit economics. However, the efficiency enhancement exercise has also resulted in certain redundancies in the system, with some roles no longer required.”
Hiring talent
On the other hand, as part of the long-term plans of the organisation, Udaan said it continues to hire talent for the new roles that have been created to grow the business faster. Udaan’s laid off employees are being provided with medical insurance for self and family (based on the existing coverage plan), compensation package as per company policy and placement assistance.
Some of the other companies that have let go employees in the past few months include MPL, Cars24, Meesho, Rupeek, and MFine among others.
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