Coursera expects to incur restructuring charges ranging between $8 million and $11 million, primarily related to severance payments and employee benefits for affected staff.

The company did not immediately respond to requests seeking details on the number of impacted employees. As of December 31, 2025, Coursera employed 1,307 full-time employees, while Udemy had 1,380 full-time employees.

Furthermore, the layoffs follow Coursera’s completion of its merger with Udemy on May 11, creating a combined edtech company focused on improving operational efficiency, strengthening its business model, and generating long-term cost synergies.

Additionally, Coursera stated that it expects most of the restructuring costs associated with the workforce reduction to be cash expenditures, which the company will recognize during the third and fourth quarters of the financial year.

Meanwhile, the company noted that the timeline for eliminating certain positions could extend beyond 2026 in some countries due to local labor regulations, statutory consultation requirements, and legal obligations governing workforce reductions.

The announcement also reflects a broader trend across the global technology sector, where companies continue to streamline operations and reduce costs amid evolving market conditions. According to Layoffs.fyi, more than 200 technology companies have collectively laid off over 119,400 employees so far this year, highlighting the continued wave of workforce restructuring across the industry.

Moreover, the integration of Coursera and Udemy represents one of the most significant developments in the online education and EdTech sectors. By combining their platforms, the companies aim to strengthen their market position, expand learning offerings, improve operational efficiencies, and deliver enhanced value to learners, businesses, and institutional customers worldwide.

As the post-merger integration progresses, Coursera is expected to continue aligning its workforce, operations, and technology infrastructure to support long-term growth while navigating changing market dynamics in the competitive online learning industry.

Coursera’s decision to reduce its workforce marks another important step in its integration with Udemy. While the company has not disclosed the number of affected employees, it expects to incur up to $11 million in restructuring costs as it streamlines operations and optimizes its business. The move also underscores the broader trend of cost optimization and workforce restructuring across the global technology and EdTech sectors.

Previously, during the 2021 funding boom, Unacademy reached a valuation of nearly $3.4 billion. However, over time, the company experienced a significant drop due to changing market dynamics and increasing competition. Moreover, the rapid rise of generative AI has accelerated disruption in the edtech ecosystem, putting additional pressure on traditional online learning platforms and contributing to declining valuations.

Meanwhile, upGrad will file for approval with the Competition Commission of India this week. Subsequently, both companies are likely to sign the agreement in the coming days, followed by a formal application for regulatory clearance.

Unacademy’s founders—Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh, and Roman Saini—launched the platform in 2015 as a YouTube channel before scaling it into one of India’s leading edtech startups. Earlier, the company held acquisition discussions with Allen Career Institute; however, both parties called off the talks due to disagreements over valuation.

In terms of financial performance, Unacademy is targeting revenue of around ₹400 crore for calendar year 2026, according to sources familiar with the matter. This projection indicates continued pressure on its top line. Additionally, the company reported ₹702 crore in operating revenue for FY25, representing a 16% year-on-year decline.

At the leadership level, CEO Gaurav Munjal confirmed in March that he will continue in his role after the transaction. This decision reverses his earlier plan to step away from daily operations and focus on the language learning app AirLearn, thereby ensuring continuity in leadership during the transition phase.

The proposed Unacademy-upGrad deal underscores the broader transformation within the edtech industry, driven by funding slowdowns, profitability challenges, and the disruptive impact of generative AI. While the acquisition could provide strategic consolidation and operational efficiencies, it also reflects the end of an era marked by inflated valuations. Going forward, sustainability, innovation, and AI integration will define the next phase of growth in the global edtech market.

As part of this deal and other planned acquisitions, Blackstone aims to build a large-scale education platform with a total investment of $600–700 million (Rs 5,317–6,203 crore), one person said.

“The talks with Globetrotters are at an early stage, but the initial conversations are centered around the fund investing $150-200 million,” a second person noted. “The final deal contours could change as the negotiations proceed.”

Post-acquisition, Blackstone will work on expanding JPIS beyond Rajasthan while keeping the schools under the existing leadership of founder and chairperson Jayshree Periwal and CEO Ayush Periwal, the person added.

Blackstone, which manages $50 billion in Indian assets, has prior exposure to the education sector. In 2021, it acquired a controlling stake in edtech firm Simplilearn for $250 million and also invested in Aakash Educational Services, later selling the stake to Byju’s in a cash-and-stock deal estimated at $950 million.

The proposed JPIS acquisition mirrors Blackstone’s strategy in the healthcare sector, where it acquired CARE Hospitals and KIMS Health for a combined $1 billion. The firm also created an EV-focused automotive tech platform with Sona BLW Precision Forging and Comstar Automotive Technologies.

Globetrotters currently operates the flagship JPIS in Jaipur and six preschools. The institution, founded in 2011, previously operated as Step by Step International School and now follows the IB curriculum.

Step by Step Shiksha Samiti, run by the Periwal family, manages two additional schools in Jaipur, but the deal will likely exclude them since private equity firms cannot directly invest in schools or educational societies in India.

Globetrotters recorded operating revenue of Rs 135.2 crore in FY25, up 16%, as per the latest RoC filings. Net profit jumped to Rs 22.5 crore from Rs 10.7 crore in FY24.

India’s education space has seen significant private equity interest earlier as well. In 2019, KKR acquired Eurokids for about $200 million from Gaja Capital. Although KKR explored selling Eurokids last year, it stepped back, seeing strong growth potential in the sector. Meanwhile, homegrown investors Kedaara Capital and Peak XV Partners hold stakes in K12 Techno Services, the operator of Orchids International School.

The newly raised capital will help the company strengthen its footprint in existing international markets, particularly in the US and Canada. A portion of the funds will also support the development of AI-driven personalization tools and the launch of new learning categories.

Founded in 2020 by Dhakad and Rupika Taneja, Codeyoung provides one-to-one online lessons for learners aged 5–17 across subjects such as math, English, coding, and science.

“Currently, we have around 15,000 students learning from us every week. Overall, around 20,000+ students are active on the platform. In terms of our student distribution, 70% are from North America, which includes the US and Canada, around 25% come from the UK, and the remaining 5% are from the rest of the world,” Dhakad said.

The platform has about 1,100 trainers working as independent contractors from multiple continents, most of whom conduct at least 5–6 sessions weekly, he added.

Codeyoung’s operations team, based in Bengaluru, consists of around 350 employees. The startup currently reports an annual recurring revenue of $15 Mn. “Currently, Codeyoung is cash flow positive. We generate a revenue of about $1.8 Mn on a monthly basis,” Dhakad said.

The funding arrives after a challenging period for the Indian edtech sector, marked by BYJU’S—the sector’s highest-valued startup—entering insolvency. Despite this, 2025 has seen renewed activity, with platforms such as Leap, CENTA, and speakX securing investments. India’s edtech market will expand to $29 Bn by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 25.87% from 2022 to 2030.

Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah recently closed its IPO and will list on November 18, while Imarticus Learning is gearing up for its public offering, planning to raise around INR 750 Cr through a mix of fresh issuance and an offer for sale.

Backed by WestBridge and Hornbill Capital, the company will open its IPO for retail investors on November 11 for a three-day bidding window, while anchor investors can place bids a day earlier on November 10. The shares will debut on Indian stock exchanges on November 18.

The IPO will include fresh equity shares worth ₹3,100 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of ₹380 crore by co-founders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, who have reduced their planned stake sale from the earlier ₹720 crore.

Valued at $2.8 billion as of September 2024, PhysicsWallah continues to hold strong amid the challenges faced by other edtech peers such as Unacademy, Vedantu, and Byju’s, the latter once valued at $22 billion but now struggling with financial setbacks and layoffs.

The company intends to use the capital to enter new categories through both organic expansion and acquisitions, while also strengthening its investments in technology, artificial intelligence, and adaptive learning content.

Additionally, the edtech startup is in advanced discussions with potential new investors to raise further capital, which may include a secondary share sale enabling some of its early investors to exit.

“The upcoming external round and secondary process will further strengthen our balance sheet, align our shareholder base, and set us up for a potential public market listing in calendar year 2027,” said cofounder and chief executive Vamsi Krishna.

Vedantu, founded in 2011 by Krishna, Anand Prakash, Saurabh Saxena, and Pulkit Jain, entered the unicorn club in September 2021 after securing $100 million in a funding round led by ABC World Asia.

According to an earlier report, the company achieved profitability in the quarter ending March 2025, with customer collections surging 67% year-on-year to ₹90 crore.

For FY24, Vedantu’s operating revenue grew 21% to ₹185 crore, while its losses narrowed by 58% to ₹157 crore. The firm has not yet submitted its FY25 financial statements to the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

The round also drew backing from consumer tech-focused Goodwater Capital along with existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Elevation Capital.

Seekho intends to deploy the fresh capital to develop innovative content formats and integrate AI-powered solutions to improve user experience.

“We want to create new learning journeys in a more hybrid and interactive format, leveraging AI to deliver personalized learning experiences across all categories,” founder Rohit Choudhary said.

Established in 2020 by Choudhary, Keertay Agarwal, and Yash Banwani, the Bengaluru-based learning startup provides short, curated learning modules in vernacular languages. The startup delivers three- to five-minute videos that tailor content to support career development and personal growth, covering topics such as digital service usage, building an online presence on Instagram or YouTube, enhancing business operations, language learning, and self-help skills.

“We will soon be launching Kannada and Bangla, and at the same time, we are also expanding to English-speaking users,” said Choudhary. The subscription-based platform currently offers content primarily in Hindi and introduced Telugu and Tamil about a quarter ago.

Industry experts with practical experience produce the videos in their respective domains. According to him, the majority of users are private-sector professionals or entrepreneurs managing their own businesses.

“I think there’s still a 10x potential just in India. I’m coming from the perspective that this is a highly aspirational country, where people want to improve their lives. They understand that they need to learn something new, and that is the major insight we have been building on,” Choudhary added.

Currently active in India, the company plans to expand globally in the upcoming fiscal year. Choudhary stated that Seekho serves 25 million monthly active users and is witnessing 60% quarter-on-quarter growth in both revenue and paid subscriptions.

The startup previously raised $8 million in December 2024.

Commenting on the investment, Anant Vidur Puri, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, said, “The trifecta of over 800 million smartphone users in India, each of them spending seven to eight hours a day, and frictionless online payments means that almost all aspects of life have moved to digital platforms—from buying groceries to financial transactions and now, with Seekho, education as well.”

The funding round was led by Aditya Vuchi (VCMint) and Raj Narayanam (RAN Ventures, Founder & Executive Chairman of Zaggle). Their backing highlights strong investor confidence in Vaave’s vision.

Until now, the startup had relied on bootstrap funds, along with support from friends and angel investors. However, with this fresh capital, the company plans to enter new markets, accelerate product innovation, and strengthen its leadership in alumni engagement.

Founded by Paresh Masade, Yasaswy Peesapati, and Jaipal Reddy, Vaave delivers subscription-based SaaS solutions. These solutions help educational institutions and corporates build and manage thriving alumni communities.

Today, the platform supports 1,200+ institutions across 28 countries, including top institutes like IISc, IITs, IIMs, NITs, and IIITs. Moreover, it manages alumni networks for leading corporates such as Tata Steel, Deloitte, Virtusa, and Bosch.

With its advanced networking and engagement tools, Vaave competes directly with international players like Almabase, Graduway, and Hivebrite. Yet, it positions itself as a strong homegrown alternative in the global alumni management space.

Therefore, this funding serves as a pivotal milestone in Vaave’s mission to empower institutions and enterprises. Ultimately, it aims to drive lifelong alumni engagement and sustainable community growth.

The round also included contributions from GSF Investors.

The funding will be utilized to expand operations into three additional states, enhance AI research and language support features, and bolster on-ground marketing and distribution initiatives.

“When we went to tier II cities, we found that 65% of the students were from Hindi-medium backgrounds. There weren’t many platforms catering to them, as most didn’t offer content or doubt-solving support in Hindi, especially at an affordable price,” cofounder and chief executive Ritesh Singh Chandel said.

Founded in 2021 by Chandel, Sonu Kumar, and Rushabh Kothari, the Indore, Madhya Pradesh-based company offers a fully automated, AI-driven tutoring platform that delivers personalized learning through interactive video lessons, real-time doubt solving, and AI-generated study plans in regional languages.

“If you use any LLM directly, they are very general. They don’t provide answers tailored to our students’ syllabus, their level of understanding, or their language. That’s why we use our open-source model, which we have fine-tuned with millions of data points derived from our syllabus to suit our students,” he said. The platform answers queries in both Hindi and Hinglish.

Arivihan primarily serves Class 12 students from tier II and tier III cities and rural regions, providing targeted support for State Board and CBSE curricula, as well as NEET exam preparation.

“We started with the class 12 State Board exam in Madhya Pradesh and received a great response. Then we launched for NEET and saw a similarly positive response,” Chandel said, adding that the company has now begun expanding to Rajasthan and plans to further expand to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh.

The company aims to grow its academic team, onboard experienced NEET faculty, and scale its workforce across product, marketing, and engineering functions. This move aligns with a broader trend among edtech startups to invest in AI technologies that enable personalized learning, adaptive assessments, and automated content generation.

“In FY25, we sold around 15,000 subscriptions, which generated a revenue of around Rs 3.25 crore… We are resolving a monthly query of around seven lakh with the help of AI with 97% accuracy,” Chandel added.

This year, the edtech startup is aiming to onboard between 80,000 and 1 lakh subscribers.

Previously, the company had raised $750,000 through Accel’s seed-stage program, Atoms.

Commenting on the investment, Dhruv Gupta, an investor at Prosus, said, “At Prosus, we’ve been actively exploring breakthrough applications of AI across sectors, and education remains one of the most compelling frontiers.”

“Edtech in India has long struggled with cookie-cutter solutions and often unsustainable business models. The advent of GenAI changes both dramatically, which has been visible in Arivihan’s traction and student outcomes so far,” said Anagh Prasad, investor at Accel.

Entrepreneur Mario Peveraro, co-founder of ONE4—a firm offering services in cybersecurity, AI, business intelligence, and data analysis, including for Tutornow—led the round. Additional support came from Techstars, where Tutornow completed its acceleration programme in 2023; Invitalia, via its Smart&Start initiative aimed at fostering innovative startups in Italy; and Kf-invest.

“This funding round marks a key moment for Tutornow: it will allow us to accelerate our growth, further invest in technology and AI, and expand our impact in the education and​ digital training sector. We strongly believe that personalised learning, supported by innovative tools, can make a real difference for students, families, and businesses, making education more accessible, effective, and tailored to individual needs. We are thrilled to have the support of high-level investors who share our vision and commitment,” comments Riccardo Sciortino, Co-founder and CEO, and Nicola De Carlo, Co-founder and CFO.

Founded in 2021 by Riccardo Sciortino, Nicola De Carlo, Andrei Braila, and Luca Dei Rossi, Tutornow is an EdTech startup based in Lomazzo that has developed a digital learning platform designed to make education more accessible and effective. The platform combines personalised lessons with interactive tools to enhance student outcomes.

Nicola De Carlo and Luca Dei Rossi, who previously co-founded Educo, a non-profit supporting students with learning disabilities (DSA) and special educational needs (BES), have brought their experience into Tutornow’s inclusive educational approach. The platform provides targeted tutoring, language certification prep, academic recovery programmes, and skills development aimed at helping students and families improve academic performance. On the B2B side, Tutornow also offers custom corporate training solutions and employee support services through welfare programmes.

Since its launch, Tutornow has shown impressive growth, reporting a 100% year-over-year revenue increase. What began with four founders has expanded into a 30-member team, with plans for strategic hires to strengthen its commercial, tech, operational, and financial divisions. To date, the company has delivered over 150,000 hours of lessons with the help of more than 15,000 qualified tutors.

Tutornow continues to position itself as a leading platform for students with DSA and BES, offering a user-friendly experience backed by the expertise of its academic coordination team. Its personalised, AI-powered model ensures that students receive the most suitable tutors to meet their learning needs.

With the recent €1 million funding round, Tutornow plans to further develop its AI-driven tutor-student matching algorithm, expand into new markets, and enhance its product offerings. The investment round was led by Mario Peveraro, co-founder of ONE4, and supported by Techstars, Invitalia’s Smart&Start programme, and Kf-invest.

Tutornow is also growing its presence in the corporate sector, offering learning solutions through platforms like Edenred and Double You (part of the Zucchetti Group), and has already launched welfare initiatives with leading Italian companies.

Looking ahead, Tutornow aims to consolidate its leadership in the Italian EdTech space and expand internationally, leveraging new technologies and partnerships to become a key player in the global digital learning market.