Bengaluru/IBNS: Edtech company Unacademy has handed pink slips to 600 of its employees, equivalent to 10 percent of its workforce in a move to cut costs ahead of potential lowering of funding, media reports said.
The Softbank-backed startup, laid off company employees, contractual workers and educators.
Among other reasons, global tensions triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine and rising oil prices is forcing investors to exercise caution.
"Based on the outcome of several assessments, a small subset of employee, contractor, and Educator roles were re-evaluated due to role redundancy and performance, as is common for any organisation of our size and scale. The vast majority of roles impacted has been a result of that process, and the efficiency we aim to drive in the broader business," an Unacademy spokesperson told Moneycontrol.
Unacademy had raised $440 million led by sovereign wealth fund Temasek in August last year, valuing the company at $3.4 billion, registering a ten-fold jump in just 18 months, according to the Moneycontrol report.
The company said that it has discussed and parted ways with people, in accordance with their respective contracts, the report stated.
"Further, the company has in good faith ensured they receive certain additional benefits and a generous severance" the spokesperson was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol.
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