Unacademy, the edtech unicorn, is taking measures to cut costs and focus on profitability. As part of the exercise, its founders and senior management will take a pay cut, while employees will have to forego all free meals and snacks at work.
No employee, not even the senior managers will enjoy business class travel any more. Those who seek to upgrade will have to pay for the same personally from their own pocket.
Considering that the organisation is preparing for an initial public offering in two years’ time, it is now trying to operate as a ‘frugal’ organisation. To ensure economical operations, the special privileges of the senior executives will have to be eliminated, for instance, dedicated drivers, indicated Gaurav Munjal, CEO, Unacademy in a memo to the staff.
By doing away with unnecessary expenses, Unacademy intends to become more profitable and generate free cash flow before the IPO.
Early this year, in the process of shutting down the unprofitable businesses, Unacademy closed down its kindergarten to class 12 (K-12) section, which rendered over 700 employees jobless.
Munjal has assured the staff that the organisation is not in a crisis and that these cost-cutting measures are not intended to give that impression. Munjal emphasised that the organisation is simply trying to focus on profitability ahead of the IPO.
Of late, edtech companies have been struggling with drop in demand as the environment is becoming more normal and offline methods of delivery are being experimented with.
