The Tiger Global-backed startup’s employee benefit expenses increased by 4.6 times to Rs 407.4 crore in FY21 against Rs 88.3 crore in FY20, , according to filings sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler.
Total expenses surged by 4 times to Rs 736.1 crore in FY21.
Employee expenses generally include gross employee salaries, incentive compensation, commissions, sick pay, dues, pension and retirement payments.
The company’s consolidated revenue from operations grew to Rs 93.6 crore from around Rs 24.6 crore in FY20. Total revenue in FY21 stood at Rs 134.9 crore.
India’s edtech firms are witnessing a slowdown in demand as offline centres reopen.
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With global macroeconomic factors affecting fundraising at startups, several large edtech firms including Vedantu and Unacademy have undertaken cost-cutting measures, including layoffs.
In May, Vedantu fired around 200 full-time and contractual employees, as the company looked to increase its capital runway. Subsequently, the same month, the company laid off another 424 contractual and full-time staff, amid falling demand for online education.
In a blog post, Vedantu founder and chief executive Vamsi Krishna said the company would also undertake cost-cutting measures. He added that the growth experienced during the peak period of the Covid-19 pandemic will not be repeated in future.
“The hyper-growth of 9-times Vedantu experienced during the last 2 years will also get moderated. For long-term sustenance of the mission, V (Vedantu) would need to adapt too,” he said.
Krishna also said that the external environment and inflationary pressures will make it difficult to raise funds.
“Currently, the external environment is tough. War in Europe, impending recession fears, and Fed interest rate hikes have led to inflationary pressures with massive correction in stocks globally and in India as well. Given this environment, capital will be scarce for upcoming quarters,” he added.
Unacademy’s founder Gaurav Munjal had previously warned employees of the ‘funding winter’ in May.
“But now we must change our ways. Winter is here. Tech stocks globally are crashing and burning due to tighter monetary policies and rising interest rates. We are looking at a time where funding will dry up at least for 12-18 months. Some people are predicting that this might last for 24 months. We must adapt,” Munjal said in an email
Firms are looking to open offline centres. Edtech unicorns including Byju’s and Vedantu have set up or are thinking of setting up more offline centres.
“We have been focusing on reducing the cost of the courses, to manage the tapering demand of online education, as offline learning centres open up. We are also in the early stages of setting up offline centres,” Vedantu’s Krishna had said earlier.
