Unacademy said on Tuesday that Relev, its advanced talent product, is shifting its focus to product testing and its newly launched LinkedIn-rival NextLevel, the latest in a series of moves by India’s edtech unicorn, is scrambling to find the next step.
As part of the move, about 40 people will be laid off at Relevel “due to a lack of roles,” Academy founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal wrote to employees on Tuesday. About 80% of the Relevel team is occupied by other businesses within the Unacademy group, he said in a note reviewed by TechCrush.
India’s EdTech, backed by SoftBank, Tiger Global and Sequoia India, said.
“We are extremely grateful for the dedication and contributions of the Relevel team. Their hard work and efforts have allowed us to grow revenue quickly, but unit economics have proved challenging,” Munjal wrote.
“Our culture is to pursue new and innovative ideas, but we have been disciplined in holding ourselves to a high bar in order to continue the projects we start. Still, this decision does not take away the positive contribution they make to improving the learning curve and career opportunities of our customers in particular.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Unacademy launched Relevel in 2021, hoping to boost the popularity of creators by giving them a platform to launch group-based live courses. The product in which the edtech giant invested more than $20 million exceeded $10 million in annual recurring revenue last year.
The startup launched its next phase on LinkedIn last month.
Unacademy has cut about 1,400 full-time and contract positions since last year as it seeks to cut start-up costs and become more disciplined.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup “always raises more than it needs” to constantly try and grow our platform without worrying about when we’ll run out of money, Munjal told employees last year. But now we must change our ways. […] Winter is here.”
