Edtech giant upGrad's CEO Arjun Mohan steps down after 3-year stint

Company's consolidated net loss widened three-fold to Rs 627 crore in FY22

Arjun Mohan, CEO of edtech giant upGrad’s, has stepped down after a three-year stint and at a time when the sector faces funding challenges and layoffs.

“After almost 3 years at the helm, I have decided to move out of upGrad. While I look back on the years at upGrad, I feel happy about the incredible company we have built which helped so many working professionals upskill. The aspects of growth and other metrics were just outcomes of giving the customers what they aspired for,” Mohan said in a LinkedIn post.

“I started my journey in education sector in the year 2008 and believe that still there is a lot more to be done to solve the persistent problems of access, affordability and quality. So I am in the exploration phase of what I can do in education next,” he said. upGrad did not immediately respond to questions about him.

Reuters reported that Mohan’s departure comes at a time when upGrad is cutting marketing costs and become profitable.

The firm’s biggest expense in FY22 was on advertising and promotions, for which the company spent Rs 393 crore in FY22. The amount is almost double the Rs 205 crore spent in FY21, according to data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler.

Further, upGrad’s consolidated net loss widened almost three-fold to Rs 627 crore in FY22 compared to Rs 211.1 crore in FY21. This came even as the unicorn’s revenue grew 111 per cent, from Rs 328 crore in FY21 to Rs 692 crore this financial year.

Despite losses, upGrad recently announced it would hire more than 1,400 people between November 2022 and March 2023 in India and for offices outside. In the past months, upGrad had also signed new leases for 335,000 sq ft of space across four cities – Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Noida.

upGrad competes with the likes of Simplilearn, Coursera, 2U, edX, Chegg, Skillsoft, and Byju’s. The firm raised $210 million in funding in August 2022, raising its valuation to $2.25 billion.

Singapore's Temasek Group, IFC Asset Management and James Murdoch's Lupa Systems, among others are some notable backers of the firm.