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After a report claimed that edtech major <keyword id="6630114" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="unacademy" source="Orion">Unacademy</keyword> has laid off employees from its job hiring platform <keyword id="12215842" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="relevel" source="Orion">Relevel</keyword>, the company's Founder and CEO <keyword id="1727930" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="gaurav-munjal" source="Orion">Gaurav Munjal</keyword> said on Wednesday that there were no layoffs. "No layoffs. We have moved some team members to other Businesses of the Group though. Team worked really really hard to ensure that we find a role for everyone," <keyword id="6320" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="munjal" source="Orion">Munjal</keyword> tweeted. A user replied: "That's nice Gaurav. Nice to read this. Compassion towards employees and fitting them in other divisions". MoneyControl first reported that Relevel "halved its team to 700 employees" amid the economic meltdown. Relevel was launched in 2021 by <keyword id="3886063" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shashank-murali" source="Orion">Shashank Murali</keyword>, Saksham Keshri and Prakash Kumar, on the back of strong traction witnessed in user growth, hiring company partnerships, and placement rate. Last year, Relevel raised $20 million from its parent edtech company Unacademy. In April, Unacademy laid off nearly 600 employees, contractual workers and educators, about 10 per cent of its 6,000-strong workforce across the group. As the funding winter hit edtech startups and unicorns in India, Unacademy founders and management took pay cuts. In an internal email last month, Munjal said that even though the company has more than Rs 2,800 crore in the bank, "we are not efficient at all". "We spend crores on travel for employees and educators. Sometimes it's needed, sometimes it's not. "There are a lot of unnecessary expenses that we do. We must cut all these expenses. We have a strong core business. We must turn profitable asap," the email read. "We will be shutting down certain businesses that have failed to find the product market fit (PMF) like the <keyword id="14425744" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="global-test-prep" source="Orion">Global Test Prep</keyword>," he told the employees. Unacademy last month said that a small fraction of its workforce (2.6 per cent) has been asked to go as part of a performance improvement programme (PIP). Nearly 150 employees (2.6 per cent) from Unacademy's PrepLadder team were laid off. SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/syrma-sgs-technology-ipo-last-day-to-subscribe-grey-market-premiums-at-25/articleshow/93625416.cms">Syrma SGS Technology IPO: Last day to subscribe, grey market premiums at ₹25</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/markets-to-open-slightly-lower-on-us-fed-signals-of-more-rates-hikes/articleshow/93628803.cms">Markets to open slightly lower on US Fed signals of more rates hikes</a>

Unacademy founder Gaurav Munjal says its job hiring platform will see no layoffs

<ul><li>Bengaluru-based <keyword id="1464841" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Edtech">edtech</keyword> startup <keyword id="6630114" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="unacademy">Unacademy</keyword> has been riding high. With a successful association with TVF on its show Aspirants and standout <keyword id="6354312" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword> campaigns, the startup is ready with its <keyword id="6354839" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="marketing">marketing</keyword> plans for the IPL matches that resume in September.</li><li>We recently caught up with <keyword id="4878889" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Karan-Shroff">Karan Shroff</keyword>, Chief Marketing Officer, Unacademy, to understand the brand’s marketing journey so far, how its strategies have worked to bring new users onto its platforms and how it is going about ensuring it becomes a household name in the next few years.</li></ul>The last one and a half years have been challenging for most businesses across the globe. However, India’s edtech sector has witnessed a boom. With students stuck at home, having to move to online classes, online learning became a way of life, and the Indian edtech ecosystem gained from this immensely. 2020 also made investors realize the opportunity in the segment and the year saw India’s edtech startups raise over $2.2 billion in funding. And it was during this otherwise difficult year that <keyword id="1727930" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gaurav-Munjal">Gaurav Munjal</keyword>'s edtech startup Unacademy became a unicorn. The startup raised $150 million in a round led by SoftBank, valuing it at $1.45 billion, making it the second unicorn in the space, after BYJU’s. It also made six acquisitions through 2020. Unacademy currently boasts of over 50,000 educators and close to 49 million learners on its platform, a number that is steadily growing. Recently, they also released a film to thank both the learner and educator community for bringing them where they are today. The film said the platform has over 5 million monthly active users, learners from over 10,000 cities from across the country. The platform sees over 150,000 interactive classes conducted every month, in 14 different languages. Recently, it also revamped the app to make it more intuitive and interactive, adding features like hand raising, study groups and live mentorship. <div type="Youtube" id="0gjFof0m6ow" title="Unacademy Believe" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0gjFof0m6ow/mqdefault.jpg"></div> When it comes to its marketing strategies so far, the platform has tailored its approach keeping its learner ecosystem at its core. A lot of its recent campaigns have also been about grabbing eyeballs and reaching their target audience, where they are. While we saw Unacademy ‘hijack’ the IPL commentary box earlier this year, a novel idea, we also saw the brand partner with TVF’s widely popular show Aspirants. The aim has been to raise awareness about the platform and tell learners how it is different. We recently caught up with Karan Shroff, Chief Marketing Officer, Unacademy, to understand the brand’s journey so far, how its strategies have worked to bring new users onto its platforms and how it is going about ensuring it becomes a household name in the next few years. Unacademy’s marketing story The last one and a half years have been difficult for businesses the world over but Unacademy has been riding high. Most of its marketing strategies have worked in its favor too. Unacademy is the official partner for IPL for three seasons. In the first year, Unacademy’s film ‘Cracking the Game’, was well-received and won several awards. This year too, its campaign in the form of a commentary box highjack helped it differentiate itself. The IPL associating has also helped the platform gain the necessary eyeballs as it can be believed that a lot of its target audience watches the league. So is Unacademy looking at this year’s IPL postponement as a speed bump? “I don’t think it is a bump. Once IPL restarts, we will continue being present. In fact, I see it as a good thing because IPL is a highly engaging event that runs nonstop for 55-60 days. So this year, the break I feel gives us a second boost,” explained Shroff. The brand has a few more campaigns planned for the second half of the event that will go live once the matches resume. On why it chose to associate with IPL, he said, “It was a strategic call to be a part of the league. IPL is the biggest cricketing league in the world, one that is watched by almost all of our country. The thought behind the association was that the Indian youth is entirely invested in the property, they love the intensity and energy of the league. With around 60 days of the league, it becomes difficult to miss a brand that advertises during the matches. We wanted to create awareness and become a household name. IPL has worked as a catalyst for us. With millions of people watching the league, we could leverage the reach and get the eyeballs but also it helped us build awareness and top-of-mind for the brand.” Unacademy had also launched an inspirational film titled ‘The Greatest Lesson’, taking viewers through the ups and downs of Sachin Tendulkar’s career, a film that was very well-received. The aim behind capitalizing on sports, especially cricket, has helped the brand stand out for many young people, after all the sport is still a religion in India. <div type="Youtube" id="7nYLfqkI8ZA" title="Unacademy | The Greatest Lesson" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7nYLfqkI8ZA/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Its latest partnership with TVF for Aspirants, through which it tried to target UPSC aspirants, has also worked in the brand’s favor. Unacademy wanted to deep-dive into the segment, bring up real stories, and tell the stories through relatable characters. Shroff also revealed that it is going to be a multi-season association with TVF and there will be more seasons to the show. So did the last one year throw no curveballs, when it came to its marketing plans? “One of the things we did when we started working from home with restricted physical access to each other from an office space perspective, we started making multiple plans, be it a shoot, a campaign or a simple social media post, we always had multiple plans and options to fall back on. We did this because it was a pandemic and nobody really knew what was in store and what lay ahead of us. So having a Plan B and C really helped us. And that has been one of our biggest learnings in these past months,” said Shroff. On driving differentiation According to estimates by <keyword id="50041" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="KPMG">KPMG</keyword>, India today has over 3,500 edtech startups, so driving differentiation becomes critical ingredient in the recipe for success. On how Unacademy has been trying to differentiate itself, Shroff said, “Our thought-process is fairly simple, we keep the consumer or in our case, the learner, at the heart of everything we do. So everytime we build a campaign we sit back and think, why, when and how. Why is of course, always for the consumer. So if the ‘Why’ doesn't feel like its adding value to the learners, we usually don't go ahead with it. Everything that we do costs marketing dollars and as long as your focus is on learners and the consumers, they're at the heart of everything and you're sure that your communication is reaching them, its then just about crafting a good communication.” The vision for Unacademy Going ahead, Shroff wants to focus more on building the brand presence on various properties. On what his larger vision for the brand is, Shroff added, “It’s to become a household name, and while there is still some ground to cover, I think we are moving in that very direction. We want to build a legacy of sorts, the way brands like Colgate and Maggi have done. If you are known from a communication and awareness perspective, it makes it so much easier to become a part of the consumer’s life and that’s what we are aiming for.”

We want to become a household name and are already moving in the right direction: Karan Shroff, Unacademy

<ul><li><keyword id="6630114" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="unacademy">Unacademy</keyword> recently entered into a strategic partnership with <keyword id="6354267" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sachin-tendulkar">Sachin Tendulkar</keyword> with the vision of spreading deeper holistic learning. </li><li>Tendulkar is also the brand ambassador of Unacademy. </li></ul>Unacademy has released a new film titled ‘The Greatest Lesson,’ to mark its association with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and celebrate the relentless human spirit in its pursuit of excellence. The Master Blaster has been roped in to serve as a Brand Ambassador and a Mentor for Unacademy learners. The film celebrates the ‘never give up’ spirit by commemorating some of the most challenging times of the veteran cricketer’s career and his subsequent triumphs. Being an Education platform, Unacademy drives a message with the film that failures must be looked upon as stepping stones to success. The film starts with the audience cheering on the Master Blaster as he walks out onto the field and former pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar gets ready to bowl. A few frames later, Akhtar is seen hurtling down the pitch in his trademark style as Sachin takes guard. The film then cuts to Sachin’s ODI debut in 1989, when he was dismissed on a duck on the second ball he faced. From there on, the film depicts some of Sachin’s most notable dismissals including the ‘shoulder before wicket’ incident against Australia at Adelaide in 1999, and former umpire Steve Bucknor’s erroneous dismissal of the cricketer at Gabba in 2003. The disappointment of the fans and the consternation on Sachin’s face is palpable as the film progresses till it reaches a crescendo and the screen changes to read, ‘Failure. The fuel of champions.’ Thereon, the narrative changes as the film journeys through some of Sachin’s most momentous comebacks that made him one of the greatest cricketers in the history of the game, earning him the sobriquet, ‘God of Cricket.’ <div type="Youtube" id="7nYLfqkI8ZA" title="Unacademy | The Greatest Lesson" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7nYLfqkI8ZA/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Unacademy recently announced a strategic partnership with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. As part of the deal, Sachin will share his life lessons, mentoring Unacademy learners through a series of live interactive classes, which will be available free of cost. Unacademy is also working on a deeper content-led integration with Sachin in the sports learning category. The details of this integration will be unveiled in the next few months. The film shattered viewership records within hours of its release, garnering over 2 million views across social media and digital platforms. This is the second major viral campaign for the EdTech major, whose IPL film titled ‘Cracking the Game’, won several awards and received an equally stellar response last November.

Unacademy's latest film is an ode to the life of its recent investor and Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar

Bengaluru, July 14 (IANS) Bengaluru-based edtech platform Unacademy on Tuesday announced that it has led a strategic investment of $5 million (approximately Rs 37.7 crore) to acquire a majority stake in Mastree, a leading K12 learning platform. Started in October 2019, Mastree recognised the gaps in foundational learning and the challenging transition to middle school for both students and parents. Founded by Shrey Goyal and Royal Jain, the company's mission is to help bridge this gap by strengthening the foundation and inspiring students to achieve excellence. Mastree is building a one-stop subscription product for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) courses, for classes 5-8, which will include Live Classes in small groups for mathematics, science, public speaking, creative writing, Vedic mathematics, and others. Along with Live Classes, students can also utilise various features like doubt solving, unlimited personalised practice, Live quizzes, etc. "Unacademy and Mastree have a shared vision, and together we want to create an impact and make quality education accessible and affordable," Gaurav Munjal, Co-Founder and CEO, Unacademy, said in a statement. "Mastree is building a highly impactful subscription product, and it will change the way students learn. We are very happy to have Mastree as part of the Unacademy Group." With this investment, Mastree will join the Unacademy Group, which consists of Wifistudy, Kreatryx, PrepLadder, and CodeChef. In addition to the investment, Unacademy has provided Blume Ventures an exit. --IANS gb/na

Unacademy leads $5mn investment in learning platform Mastree

<keyword id="1464841" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="edtech" source="Orion">Edtech</keyword> major <keyword id="6630114" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="unacademy" source="Orion">Unacademy</keyword> has laid off 12 per cent of its workforce or over 350 employees in its latest round of job cuts. Gaurav <keyword id="6320" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="munjal" source="Orion">Munjal</keyword>, co-founder and CEO of Unacademy, announced the latest layoffs in a <keyword id="1815769" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="slack" source="Orion">Slack</keyword> message to employees, reports <keyword id="179988" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="techcrunch" source="Orion">TechCrunch</keyword>. "We have taken every step in the right decision to make our core business profitable, yet it's not enough. We have to go further, we have to go deeper," Munjal was quoted as saying. "Today's reality is a contrast from two years ago when we saw unprecedented growth because of the accelerated adoption of online learning. Today, the global economy is enduring a recession, funding is scarce and running a profitable business is key. We have to adapt to these changes, build and operate in a much leaner manner so we can truly create value for our users and shareholders," he added. Moreover, in a message to employees, Munjal stated that he takes "complete responsibility for the way things have turned out". In November last year, Unacademy laid off 10 per cent of its workforce or nearly 350 employees, as funding winter deepens for the Indian startup ecosystem. Earlier this year, Unacademy-run Relevel laid off 40 employees, or 20 per cent of its workforce, as it shifts its focus from the education business to "tests product" and a new app called NextLevel. Meanwhile, another edtech major BYJU's has laid off a further 15 per cent of its employees from its engineering teams, as the company continues phased layoffs to remain growth-oriented in a global economic meltdown. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/meet-the-tigers-elephants-rabbits-and-turtles-of-the-e-commerce-jungle/articleshow/99109220.cms">Meet the tigers, elephants, rabbits and turtles of the e-commerce jungle</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/how-to-subscribe-verified-blue-tick-on-facebook-and-instagram/articleshow/99108865.cms">Get verified blue tick on Facebook and Instagram now: Here’s how to subscribe and price details</a>

Unacademy lays off 12% of workforce in its latest round of job cuts

<ul><li>Unacademy's latest advertisement with brand ambassador MS Dhoni required over 200 crew on live-action shoot and 40 plus artists for post-production.</li><li>It is conceptualised by <keyword id="3222480" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mullenlowe-lintas-group" source="Orion">MullenLowe Lintas Group</keyword>. </li></ul>Unacademy today launched a new brand film titled Lesson No. 7, featuring cricket legend M S Dhoni. The 85 seconds long video depicts a metaphorical representation of Dhoni’s life journey with the vision of helping learners pursue their dreams with perseverance. The brand also announced Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Former India Team Captain as one of their brand ambassadors. Deviating from the narrative style of Unacademy’s recent films, Lesson No. 7 uses high quality production and CGI to create an allegorical rendition of the barriers that Dhoni overcomes in order to achieve greatness and remain battle ready. The heavy production sets this film brand film apart as one of its kind in India which required over 200 crew on live action shoot and 40+ artists for post production across countries such as India, Argentina, Portugal and US and over three months of VFX. Being an Education platform, Unacademy drives a message with the film to convey that an individual can overcome all insecurities by making relentless efforts. The film starts with a meteor shower heading towards earth, as a solitary figure prepares to catch it. The scene then cuts to an approaching train that the figure attempts to beat by breaking into a sprint crashing through walls. The train in the film was used to represent the shackles that hold one back, while the walls denoted milestones in one’s journey. The film ends with the figure catching the meteor as the approaching train dissipates, epitomizing his victory over all odds. Karan Shroff, Partner and CMO, Unacademy commented regarding the brand film and the association: “Lesson No. 7 is Dhoni’s life mantra of how with a persistent approach, you can be assured of greatness awaiting beyond barriers. Our journey with our Learners is not only till they crack an exam but for their entire life, and this is a life lesson which we hope will inspire all of them to continue to fight and chase their dreams. We are extremely proud of this film and thankful to Dhoni, who supported us in delivering our mission and welcome him on board the Unacademy train.” Speaking on the film, Former Team India Captain M S Dhoni said, "Both in life and in cricket, I have always believed in two things, i.e to focus on breaking through the next immediate barrier and continue to learn to be battle ready. The film reflects on how Unacademy looks at Learning as a continuous process and prepares you for your next challenge ahead and I am delighted to be associated with Unacademy. As they say “You never lose, you either win or you learn, so looking forward to the same with this association." Puneet Kapoor, Regional Creative Officer, Mullenlowe Lintas Group further added, “The most inspiring people in the world are the ones who are students till their last breath. Hats off Mahi for inspiring the world much beyond cricket! It’s difficult to encapsulate this great athlete’s journey in 85 seconds but we’ve made a very valiant and a passionate attempt. Kudos to our creative team for the long drawn production, Unacademy marketing team for sticking for this idea through thick and thin and to Hungry films for pulling off this beauty.”

Unacademy's latest advertisement with brand ambassador MS Dhoni encapsulates his life lessons in a production masterpiece

Ed-tech startup <keyword id="6630114" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Unacademy">Unacademy</keyword> raised $1 million in the latest funding round and was backed by Flipkart's <keyword id="225032" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sachin-Bansal">Sachin Bansal</keyword>, Binny Bansal, Paytm's <keyword id="198636" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vijay-Shekhar-Sharma">Vijay Shekhar Sharma</keyword>, and FreeCharge's <keyword id="192201" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kunal-Shah">Kunal Shah</keyword>. 
 The funding round was led by <keyword id="592779" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Blume-Ventures">Blume Ventures</keyword>, Stanford Angels India, WaterBridge Ventures, Traxcn Labs and a clutch of other angels, including Sandeep Tandon and Ashish Tulsian. 
 
The existing investors of Unacademy including Taxi4Sure’s Aprameya Radhakrishnan, redBus’ Phanindra Sama, CommonFloor’s Sumit Jain and Vikas Malpani (both CommonFloor) also participated. 
 
Unacademy is an education-technology based startup that allows educators to create courses on the platform. 
 Puducherry <keyword id="3547504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="lg-kiran-bedi">LG Kiran Bedi</keyword> is also an educator on the platform. 
 
"Within two months, the Unacademy Create app will be made available to all, so anyone across the world can create lessons in any language they like. After a thorough screening process, we will make the relevant lessons available on our platform that will be free for all to see," said Chief Executive Gaurav Munjal, who started Unacademy along with Roman Saini. 
 
To become an educator on Unacademy, you have to go through an interview process and the selection is based on their experience. 
 
Once selected, the educators create video courses of not more than 10 minutes on its platform, which are available to students for free. 
 
"In a short span of eight months, the founding team has proved that leveraging technology to empower its educators and students is a problem that can be solved effectively at scale," said Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal. 
 
The startup claims to have more than 300,000 students for over 2,400 online lessons and specialised courses through the platform. 
"The product is designed for both lightweight production and consumption-in that it's ingenious. This can change learning to an entirely different plane and kill a lot of ine ective institutional frameworks," said Karthik Reddy, Managing Partner, Blume Ventures. 
 
(Image: Thinkstock)

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Unacademy lays off 12% of workforce in its latest round of job cuts

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