Matrix Partners-backed Crejo.Fun has become the latest Indian startup to shut operations amidst the economic downturn and funding winter.
The co-founders of the extracurricular activity ed-tech startup informed the employees about their decision to shut down the operations in a town hall,
The cofounders – Ankit Agarwal and Vikas Bansal – told employees that the lack of funding and reopening of schools made them take the decision to wind down the operations.
The startup had a workforce of 170-200 employees, including on-roll and off-roll ones. The reopening of schools post-pandemic led to a drastic drop in kids enrolling on the platform, the sources said.
Co-founder Bansal confirmed the development. In a written statement he said, “The company has decided to take the tough decision to wind down its operations. We had great customer love with ratings of 4.9 and we continued to grow well even after post-school reopening, (~7x growth in the last 6 months). However we were running out of funds and while we were trying to raise capital for the last couple of months, given the fundraising environment, we were unable to raise funds.”
The startup claims to have refunded fees to all its customers.
“We have successfully got jobs for more than 90% of our employees and are in active discussions to place the rest. We will also be providing their July salary to them. We are also trying to sell the IP and the product so that we can return some investor capital,” Bansal added.
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Crejo.Fun has also offered a one-month salary as severance pay to the employees and would also help them find new jobs, sources added.
Crejo.Fun was founded by IIM Bengaluru alumni Bansal and Agarwal in 2020. It was an online extracurricular learning platform built with the intent to help children discover their passions and interests through creative learning. As per its website, the startup offered yoga, chess, dance, public speaking, and arts & crafts classes, among others. The courses were priced between INR 8,000 to INR 26,999.
Last year, when the startup was still in stealth mode, it raised $3 Mn in a pre-seed round from Matrix Partners and 021 Capital. The funding round also saw participation from angel investors such as Kunal Shah, Sameer Nigam, Ankit Nagori, and Sujeet Kumar, among others.
In FY21, the edtech startup had earned INR 19.3 Lakh in revenues, which included sales worth INR 16,102. During the same period, the startup’s expenses stood at INR 1.1 Cr, leading to a loss of ~INR 93 Lakh.
Edtech Startup Industry Downfall
Nearly two-year-old Bengaluru-based SuperLearn becomes the latest edtech firm to shut down its operations as it bites the dust due to a lack of capital and investor interest following the re-opening of schools post the pandemic.
Founded in 2020 by Bhatia and Ricky Gupta, SuperLearn was a webinar format after-school learning platform for kids aged 3-13 years offering a range of hobby, extracurricular, co-curricular and life-skills activities.
And recently in June 2022 “Udayy Edtech Startup”, closed down its operations laying off its entire workforce of 100 people.
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