Dropped off unicorn lists by 2024 after mass layoffs and a multi-year funding drought; raised only ~$2.3M in 2024
The rise & fall
6 moments · 2011–2024
The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2011
🌱
2011
Founded in Bengaluru
Live online tutoring for school students, years before the pandemic makes it a category.
Inc42
Sep 2021
📈
Sep 2021
The peak: a $1B Series E at edtech's height$1B
Tiger Global and Coatue lead the round at the very top of the pandemic online-learning boom.
Inc42
2022
2022
Classrooms reopen; 1,100+ jobs go
Live-tutoring demand shrinks as schools return in person and edtech funding collapses.
Inc42
2022–24
💬
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2022–24
Employee reviews traced the squeeze from inside: staff described layoff rounds arriving almost yearly, appraisals shrinking toward zero, and six-day weeks of target-driven, 12-hour calling shifts — though reviewers across roles noted salaries still landed on time.
Jan 2024
💔
Jan 2024
Slips out of the club
Dropped from unicorn lists as its implied valuation falls well below $1B after three years without meaningful funding.
Inc42
2024
2024
A ~$2.3M lifeline
After three dry years, the once-$1B startup raises just ~$2.3M in debt and equity.
Entrackr
💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Vedantu was a prominent Indian online-tutoring startup offering live classes for school students, crossing the $1B mark in a September 2021 Series E led by Tiger Global and Coatue at the pandemic edtech boom's height.
As classrooms reopened and edtech funding collapsed, it cut more than 1,100 jobs, raised only a tiny ~$2.3M round in 2024 after three dry years, and was dropped from unicorn lists in early 2024.
Source: Inc42 / ION Analytics / Entrackr (online live-tutoring startup; reached a $1B unicorn valuation in a Sept 2021 Series E led by Tiger Global and Coatue; cut over 1,100 jobs in 2022, struggled to raise, and was removed from unicorn lists in January 2024 as its implied valuation fell well below $1B; raised just ~$2.3M of debt-equity in 2024)
