Exclusive: Alpha Wave-backed edtech startup Udayy shuts down

Edtech startup Udayy has shut down its operations and laid off 100% of its workforce in the past few months, said five sources familiar with the development. 

According to Entrackr’s sources, Udayy has laid off over 100 employees and decided to shut operations as it didn’t manage to grow in the post pandemic period.

Udayy founder Soumya Yadav confirmed the development to Entrackr.

“Udayy was witnessing the post-pandemic world for the first time. As the kids went back to school, we faced roadblocks in growing the original model of online, live learning. We evaluated multiple different strategies and adjacent pivots however none of them were promising enough. After a lot of deliberation, we decided that it’s better to shut down the business than to spend more time and capital on it. Our investors, team members and customers have been very supportive,” said Yadav in a statement.

According to Yadav, the company shut down its operations in April and helped nearly all of its unemployed people find new jobs.

“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% of our employees into new jobs at other promising companies. We are returning the remaining capital to our investors. We shut down because business was not growing after the pandemic and not because of funding crunch,” she added.

Two-year-old Udayy was an immersive learning platform for kids between kindergarten to grade 8 to practise and develop mathematical and analytical thinking. The Gurugram-based startup had picked up a $2.5 million seed round a year ago from Falcon Edge’s Alpha Wave and Info Edge Ventures. It also raised a $10 million round led by Norwest. Entrackr was the first to report about their new round.

Udayy becomes the second startup from the edtech space after Lido Learning to shut operations. Three months ago, Ronnie Screwvala-backed Lido Learning had wound up its operations. Entrackr had exclusively reported Lido’s shut down in March.

The slowdown in funding activities is impacting startups across segments but edtech has been experiencing more layoffs as compared to other segments. In the past month, Vedantu had laid off about 624 employees across two tranches whereas Unacademy had fired hundreds of employees. Lightspeed-backed FrontRow also trimmed 35% of its total workforce.

For the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2021, Udayy had recorded operating revenue of Rs 2.87 crore while its losses stood at Rs 1.73 crore, according to its annual financial statement filed with Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Update: The post has been updated to reflect comments from Udayy founder