Exclusive: upGrad’s KnowledgeHut CEO Subramanyam Reddy quits

Subramanyam Reddy, who is the founder and chief executive of upGrad-owned edtech company Knowledgehut, has resigned from his position after serving nearly 13 years at the company.

As per sources, Reddy submitted his resignation last month and is currently on a notice period. The other two co-founders of Knowledgehut include Madhavarapu Nagaraju and Manjunath V.

While Nagaraju already quit the company ahead of the acquisition by upGrad in August 2021, Manjunath is currently leading the company’s business strategy and marketing. During the same period, upGrad attained a unicorn status after raising fresh funds from Temasek and others.

Confirming the development to Entrackr, an upGrad spokesperson said, “..upGrad and its division Head, Subramanyam Reddy of erstwhile Knowledgehut have mutually decided to terminate the employment, effective December 5th 2023 with no notice period.”

“...We are pleased to announce the appointment of Asheesh Sharma - President, Short Courses and Bootcamps, effective 2nd January 2024. He will lead P&L growth, bring new program innovations to the fore, and expand its core offerings internationally," added the spokesperson.

KnowledgeHut is a knowledge training company for individuals and corporate offices, operating across 70 countries and 6 continents. Apart from offering off-the-shelf accredited training courses, it also customises training content to cater to diverse and specific needs of customers across domains.

Also Read: Nearly 20 Indian startup CEOs quit their posts in 2023 so far

The firm has built an AI driven immersive platform called PRISM to offer agile-focused courses, scrum and full stack development across various categories.

According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, the company reported a revenue of Rs 53.36 crore in FY23 with loss of Rs 98.92 crore. As per sources, KnowledgeHut's revenue was Rs 90 crore with zero loss before acquisition and the company is doing Rs 220 crore in revenue with loss of Rs 30 crore in the current fiscal year. Sources further say that 75% of its business comes from the global market with a majority from the USA.

This is the second high profile exit at upGrad’s group of companies. In January 2023, the firm’s chief executive officer Arjun Mohan stepped down from the role after a nearly three-year stint. Mohan joined Byju’s as CEO of Indian business.

According to data compiled by TheKredible, around two dozen startup CEOs have left their position to either join a new firm or continue in the same company in a different role since January 2023. Some notable CEOs who resigned include DealShare, BharatPe, upGrad, boAt, ZestMoney, Cuemath, Porter and most recently Indus OS’ CEO Rakesh Deshmukh. To recall, Indus OS was officially acquired by PhonePe in July 2022. Entrackr was first to report the deal in May 2021.