NEW DELHI: Edtech unicorn Unacademywhich has laid off several hundred employees since the onset of the funding winter last year claimed that the firm has Rs 1,800 crore in the bank and has reduced its cash burn by 60%. In an internal note to employees on Tuesday, co-founder & CEO Gaurav Munjal said that the company has a runway (the amount of time a business has before it runs out of cash) of more than four years with the current cash reserves.“The April-June quarter was cash flow positive for us,” Munjal said in the note which was reviewed by TOI.
The edtech segment which had cornered the bulk of the startup funding through 2020 and 2021 on the back of Covid-led spurt in subscription of digital services has been struggling to raise fresh capital amid a tepid funding environment and drop in demand following the opening of educational institutions. Several edtech firms including Byju’s, Vedantu and most recently Physics Wallah cut jobs. “Our online business degrew by 30% but EBITDA improved by 87%. Graphy (one of its business units) grew by 30% and is very close to profitability,” Munjal said.
Munjal’s assurance to Unacademy’s employees comes at a time when bigger rival Byju’s is grappling with a fund crunch and has put its assets on the block to repay lenders. Once valued at $22 billion, the firm has fired more than 5,000 employees since October last year and saw its valuation drop under $3 billion in the latest markdown by its investor Prosus. “We have built the business in the right manner. We have been ethical about our approach and have made systems to completely avoid mis-selling,” Munjal said.
Unacademy is betting big on the offline space and plans to expand the footprint of its learning centres in existing cities. “Unacademy centres went from 6,000 learners in 2022 to 32,000 learners in 2023,” Munjal added.
The edtech segment which had cornered the bulk of the startup funding through 2020 and 2021 on the back of Covid-led spurt in subscription of digital services has been struggling to raise fresh capital amid a tepid funding environment and drop in demand following the opening of educational institutions. Several edtech firms including Byju’s, Vedantu and most recently Physics Wallah cut jobs. “Our online business degrew by 30% but EBITDA improved by 87%. Graphy (one of its business units) grew by 30% and is very close to profitability,” Munjal said.
Munjal’s assurance to Unacademy’s employees comes at a time when bigger rival Byju’s is grappling with a fund crunch and has put its assets on the block to repay lenders. Once valued at $22 billion, the firm has fired more than 5,000 employees since October last year and saw its valuation drop under $3 billion in the latest markdown by its investor Prosus. “We have built the business in the right manner. We have been ethical about our approach and have made systems to completely avoid mis-selling,” Munjal said.
Unacademy is betting big on the offline space and plans to expand the footprint of its learning centres in existing cities. “Unacademy centres went from 6,000 learners in 2022 to 32,000 learners in 2023,” Munjal added.