BYJU’s considering shut down of its coding platform WhiteHat Jr
- ByStartupStory | February 23, 2023
Edtech firm BYJU’s is considering shutting down WhiteHat Jr as it seeks to reduce costs and eliminate the business division that has attracted significant criticism to the Bengaluru-headquartered company.
According to a reports, BYJU’S has been in talks in the recent weeks about closing down the coding platform. However, it has not reached the decision yet.
The company said that it is constantly evaluating and optimising its business operations towards global growth.
“As an ongoing activity, we are actively evaluating all our business units to ensure that they are aligned with our path to profitability,” said BYJU’s.
BYJU’S acquired the coding edtech startup for $300 million in 2020. BYJU’S eventually spent less than $235 million on the acquisition deal, the report noted.
The company, which has reduced its spending on marketing and let go of thousands of staff, was spending around $14 million on its coding platform each month until recently, the report added.
Last June, WhiteHat Jr fired around 300 employees in a cost-cutting measure. WhiteHat Jr has also been under fire for making false claims and using pushy tactics to court students.
The coding platform received even more criticism when it sued several of its critics. Eventually, it retracted the lawsuit. Get connected to BYJU’S In November, speaking at TechSparks 2022, Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, BYJU’S, said, while the company is still figuring out the go-to-market strategy for WhiteHat Jr, its other major acquisitions have been profitable.
WhiteHat Jr shut its schools division that targeted to take its flagship coding curriculum to 10 lakh school students by the next academic year.
Its foray into teaching music online, offering guitar and piano playing, yielded no fruitful results.
Recently, BYJU’S has come under scrutiny due to its questionable accounting procedures and substantial downsizing. Earlier this month, BYJU’S axed over 900 more jobs across teams in a fresh round of layoffs.
The startup, which was last valued at $22 billion, reported a loss of Rs 4,564.38 crore in FY21, bigger than its FY20 loss, which stood at Rs 305.5 crore.
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