The Edtech startup in India laid off thousands of employees last year and was unable to raise funding due to a market downturn.

The startup Edtech Camp K12 has reportedly laid off 70% of its workforce. Coding company ed-tech is refusing to pay membership fees for its employees, according to a Morning Context report.

K12 Summer Camp was founded in 2010 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Business School graduate Anshul Bhagi as a small programming summer camp. He launched the ed-tech startup during the pandemic.

This month, ed-tech unicorn Byju laid off nearly 1,500 employees in a second round of layoffs. Last year, the startup led by byju Raveendran laid off around 2,500 employees.

Edtech startups in India have laid off thousands of workers over the past year and failed to raise capital as the market slows.

Companies cutting jobs include Unacademy, backed by SoftBank, and Vedantu, backed by 

Tiger Global, and Byju’s – India’s largest $22 billion startup.

In January, ed-tech startup Unacademy also laid off 20% of its staff at the subsidiary level.

Experts say some people won’t be cut off, such as those in legal and strategic positions, middle managers, and those with strong digital skills. Client teams are also protected.

Elsewhere, ed-tech unicorn PhysicsWallah hopes to hire about 2,500 employees in the first quarter of 2023.

The company engages in mass hiring through mega-hiring campaigns.

Yet India remains one of the world’s most popular markets for tech investors, according to venture capital firm GSV Ventures.

Based in the United States, GSV specializes in investing in technology startups worldwide and manages around $500 million in assets. In India, two of its largest investments have been in exam preparation companies PhysicsWallah and LEAD, which provide a digital infrastructure to schools.

“It is way too early to be negative. India is still the most exciting market for me along with the U.S. These are very early days for the Indian ed-tech market,” Deborah Quazzo, managing partner at GSV said in an interview with Reuters.

According to data provider Tracxn Technologies, Indian ED startups raised $2.6 billion in 2022, down 36% year over year.