Edtechs on a firing spree: LEAD lets go of about 100 employees

School edtech unicorn LEAD has let go of employees, according to confirmed sources. This marks LEAD's entry into the growing list of startups that have asked employees to leave in 2022.

The company confirmed that less than 100 employees have been let go after a performance review that LEAD carries out yearly. Currently, the company said it has about 2,000 employees.

"We have concluded our performance appraisal process last month and each year, we experience some churn during this time. The resulting reduction in our workforce is less than 100 persons. We would like to assure all our stakeholders that LEAD is adequately staffed for its growth aspirations and that with schools across India now open again, we are working on bringing innovation and transformation back to these institutions," said LEAD, in an official statement.

Co-founder and chief executive officer, Sumeet Mehta said that trends in consumer edtech are not relevant in school edtech, a segment where LEAD operates.

Back then, he also said that with students making their way back to physical classes, school edtech is witnessing a major boom and opening up opportunities to double down on growth and innovation plans.

With demand for online education solutions slowing post the pandemic, edtech companies in the country, including some of the largest, are struggling to survive.

Many companies have thus taken aggressive cost-cutting initiatives like mass layoffs, reduction in advertising and marketing spends, and cuts in employee welfare costs, among others. Companies are also going slow on expansion and have reduced expenditure on non-core verticals.

So far, edtech companies have laid off close to 6,000 employees since the start of 2022.

In January, LEAD raised $100 million at a valuation of $1.1 billion, catapulting it to the coveted unicorn club of internet startups. LEAD raised the money from existing investors WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures. Earlier in April 2021, the company had raised $30 million from investors.

LEAD is India's sixth edtech unicorn after Byju's, Vedantu, Unacademy, Eruditus, and UpGrad.