UpGrad Subsidiary Lays Off Nearly 120 Employees Or Over 30% of Workforce: Report

In the latest round of tech layoffs, edtech unicorn UpGrad has laid off about 120 employees at its subsidiary Impartus Innovations. The sacking has affected at least 30 per cent of 300 employees of Impartus Innovations, according to an FE report quoting sources.

Impartus Innovations is a video-learning solutions provider that UpGrad had acquired in 2021 for Rs 150 crore. It is the second instance of layoffs at an UpGrad-owned subsidiary after about 70 employees were sacked at Harappa Education in December 2022.

UpGrad has made at least 14 acquisitions to date. In 2022, it made around five acquisitions, including upskilling platform Harappa Education for $38 million, and data science institute INSOFE for $33 million.

Recently, Upgrad Education took on lease 2 lakh sqft space in Mumbai’s BKC from Sunteck Realty, for 29 years and will pay around Rs 2,000 crore over the entire lease period. Upgrad will be paying starting rentals of close to Rs 300 per sq ft per month on carpet area basis.

The project is situated off Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). The project is at near completion stage and the possession is to be completed by June 2023. Upgrad Education will be providing superior education infrastructure for its students to focus on their academics and career development. Upgrad is expected to initiate operations soon in the near completion commercial space.

In September 2022, UpGrad announced the 100 per cent acquisition of corporate training solutions leader Centum Learning in a share swap deal. Centum is expected to clock a revenue of Rs 170 crores ($21 million) in financial year 2023. With this transaction, Bharti Enterprises Limited and its affiliates are joining upGrad’s cap table.

Started in 2015, upGrad has a learner base of over 3 million across more than 100 countries and over 300 university partners and a robust enterprise business with a client base of 1,000 companies worldwide.

In August, upGrad raised $210 million (about Rs 1,670 crore) in a round that saw participation from ETS Global, Bodhi Tree, Kaizen Management Advisors and others.

The tech industry has witnessed massive layoffs in 2022 and the edtech sector has topped the list of sectors with highest layoffs. More than 18,000 employees are believed to have lost their jobs in the sector so far due to a downturn in the market. The edtech sector in India includes companies such as Byju’s, Unacademy and Vedantu, among others.

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