Edtech startup Udayy has shut down its operations and laid off all its employees, under pressure from slowing business after reopening of schools post easing of Covid situation.
The company’s business was hit after children started moving back to schools in the post-pandemic world, said co-founder Saumya Yadav.
“We had enough capital in our books, but the business no longer made sense in the offline world, customer acquisition cost became very expensive,” business daily ET reported, quoting Yadav. “We had enough capital, but a post-pandemic lot of parents started asking for refunds, and kids did not have time as schools opened up.”
The edtech firm, backed by internet company Info Edge, was witnessing the post-pandemic world for the first time. As the kids went back to school, it faced roadblocks in growing the original model of online, live learning. The company said it evaluated multiple different strategies and adjacent pivots however none of them was promising enough.
“We had never existed before the pandemic, so the transition was very difficult. The market we had taken a bet on was not really existing and customer acquisition cost was going up heavily,” Yadav told ET.
As the company downed shutters, over hundred employees who were a part of the organisation were laid off. Yadav said that the firm paid the ex-employees with a severance package and also helped them find new jobs.
Yadav said, “We have refunded money to all our customers and paid a generous severance to our team members and teachers. We have already helped place nearly 100 percent of our employees into new jobs at other promising companies. We are returning the remaining capital, around USD 8.5 million back to our investors.”
Founded in 2019 by Karan Varshney, Mahak Garg and Yadav, the Gurugram-based startup offers learning and education services for students in the kindergarten to eighth class and was catering to around 5,000 students each month.
