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Collin Furtado · · 2 min readY Combinator alum Novatr cuts over 50 staff in India
Novatr (formerly Oneistox), an edtech startup backed by Y Combinator, has laid off approximately 52 employees in India across departments such as sales, tech, operations, and product, people with knowledge of the matter told Tech in Asia. Some sources suggested that the actual number could be significantly higher.
Staff were informed that the restructuring is aimed at ensuring “Novatr’s long-term sustainability and growth” by “realigning the organization to prioritize critical business objectives,” according to an email sent to affected employees and reviewed by Tech in Asia.
Novatr co-founder and CEO Harkunwar Singh / Photo credit: Novatr
Harkunwar Singh, Novatr’s CEO and co-founder, confirmed the layoffs in a statement to Tech in Asia. However, he did not reveal the number of staff who were axed.
“As part of our regular business reviews, we evaluate organizational needs from time to time to ensure alignment with our strategic goals. Based on a recent assessment, we have made the difficult decision to let go of certain employees,” Singh stated.
Founded in 2019, Novatr provides online upskilling courses in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC). The startup rebranded from Oneistox or 1:x – which means exponential growth – to Novatr in May 2023 as part of its mission “to fill the innovation gap in the AEC industry,” Singh said at the time.
Novatr currently has around 300 employees, as per Linkedin data. According to sources, the retrenchment came as a surprise to the staff, who were told during a town hall meeting in November that the startup had a two-year runway.
Some sources attributed the downsizing to the firm’s failure to meet its financial targets for the current fiscal year. However, Tech in Asia wasn’t able to independently confirm this claim.
Novatr targeted a revenue growth of 12x in the financial year ending March 2024, which equates to about 1.6 billion rupees (US$18.7 million). In FY 2023, the company generated 133 million rupees (US$1.5 million) in revenue and posted a net loss of 10 million rupees (US$117,000), according to its financials on Tracxn.
Although headquartered in the US, Novatr’s entire staff operates from India. The company participated in Y Combinator’s summer 2021 cohort and raised US$1.2 million via a seed round in April 2023.
In February, Novatr announced a strategic partnership with India’s National Skill Development Corporation and design software platform Autodesk to upskill 40,000 individuals across the country.
Two months before the job cuts, Singh posted on LinkedIn that Novatr was hiring for multiple roles. Currently, 18 job openings are still listed on the company’s LinkedIn page, with postings dated between two to three weeks ago.
See also: Asia layoff tracker: latest on Doctor Anywhere, Biofourmis
Editing by Thu Huong Le and Eileen C. Ang
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The move reportedly surprised employees, who were told in November that the startup had enough runway for two years.
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