Byju’s lays off 600 from Toppr, WhiteHat Jr.

With the edtech industry grappling with a cash crunch, the latest player to lay off employees is the leader itself. Byju’s has laid off around 600 employees.

Byju’s has laid off 300 employees from Toppr while integrating the learning platform, acquired last year. Its coding platform WhiteHat Junior too has seen a shrinking of its workforce by 300 people.

“Byju's has completed the integration of Toppr and has absorbed almost 80 per cent of its talented workforce into the Byju’s ecosystem. As the next step, we are optimising teams to recalibrate business priorities and accelerate our long-term growth,” the company spokesperson said.

WhiteHat Junior was acquired by Byju’s in 2020. It was one of the several acquisitions Byju’s had made since the pandemic broke out and the edtech industry boomed amidst closed classrooms.

“WhiteHat Jr. is focused on providing quality education to young students while continuing to build a strong business. To realign with our business priorities, we are optimising our team to accelerate results and best position the business for long-term growth. WhiteHat Jr continues to put students first and invest in building a high-quality teacher’s network,” Byju’s said when asked about the lay-off.

Earlier, Byju’s had delayed its payment to Akash Educational Services, which was acquired last year.

Startups in general and edtech startups in particular, are facing a cash crunch with the PE funds becoming doubtful about their prospects in the offline learning scenario.