Startups and their new normal: Funding crunch, disgruntled employees and allegations of fraud

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

PharmEasy is slated to be among the first large tech startups to have a 90% markdown in its valuations in its latest fundraising round. The pandemic, with its surge in tech usage, became the wind under the wings of the tech startups, but as the pandemic abated, the wind, too, died down, leading to a few crashes or near-crashes. While the valuations of PharmEasy will collapse from its peak of $5.6 billion two years ago to $500-600 million in its upcoming rights issue, other health tech startups such as Phablecare, Mojocare and Glamyo Health are also facing bleak futures — riddled by funding crunch, disgruntled employees or allegations of fraud and misrepresentation of financials.

The edtech industry is also facing an existential crisis once schools and colleges reopened after the pandemic disruption. Besides, the sector failed to provide a low-cost, sustainable proposition to those seeking schooling. Several edtech platforms, such as Lido Learning, Udayy, SuperLearn and Crejo.Fun, had to shut down.

The larger ones like Vedantu and Unacademy have survived after layoffs and funding crunch. But the Pandora’s box that has opened at Byju’s, once India’s most valued startup, undoubtedly takes the cake. The pandemic-triggered ‘new normal’ was supposed to bring more tech absorption, create more digital immigrants and see increased translation of several offline activities to online.