As India’s edtech industry hits the brakes, the company finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place.
Vamsi Krishna rubbishes claims that Vedantu is in trouble. But, with India’s education technology sector in the doldrums and the K12 segment—kindergarten to grade 12—reaching crisis point, trouble seems to have finally reached the doors of his edtech startup.
“Revenues are down drastically and Vedantu is not able to turn it around,” says an industry executive, asking not to be named. “The burn is still significantly higher. The Ai Live product, launched in April to bring down the course fee by 80% in some cases, didn’t work out. They had to cut down a lot of jobs. Salaries of teachers were also slashed across the board.”
At this point, it seems Vedantu is just trying to “stay afloat”, he adds. “I wonder how long they can afford to. Already, there are talks of finding a buyer.”
After growing rapidly in the pandemic years—owing to COVID-19-induced lockdowns and excess liquidity in the markets—India’s edtech sector is facing an existential
Pradip is a co-founder at The Morning Context and leads our newsletters vertical. He has previously worked at The Ken as a staff writer, at Mint as an assistant features editor and the Deccan Chronicle as a copy editor. He works with a slew of expert newsletter writers across subjects and domains. His own writing spans the gig economy, farmers caught in the crossfire of technology, global warming and parents trapped in the edtech wave. Some of his best stories have come at the intersection of technology and human endeavour.
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