IITians or Ponzi Schemers?
Context - Morning Context article on Teachmint https://themorningcontext.com/internet/teachmint-is-the-latest-edtech-on-the-verge-of-a-crisis
CheeryTramp1
Stealth
a year ago
Some excerpts from the article:
Their core product is not relevant to schools in the post-pandemic world,” says the edtech entrepreneur. “Unless they are able to build additional layers, they will not be able to monetize.”
“Burn has been relatively high in the past, however, we have aligned our burn and business structure to be in-line with the current market and macro factors,” said the Teachmint spokesperson. After starting paid subscriptions late in 2021-22, revenue saw “a major ramp” in 2022-23, they said. The company is “working towards breaking even over the next 3 years”.
“The money got to their head. It gave them fake confidence and COVID exacerbated that. They became cocky and arrogant,” says the second former employee. “I remember discussions used to be like how to make a $10 billion company. And we were like, please get the revenue of $1 million. They thought whatever they touch will turn to gold. And this has been the reason for their downfall.”
“It is pretty shocking to see identical Mercedes SUVs in the parking lot. How can you do this after raising just a Series B?” asks a second former employee, also on condition of anonymity. “Especially when you don’t have a product and vision?”
“Both Mihir and Divyansh bought houses worth crores of rupees. All this was done when the company still had no steady revenue,” says a third former employee, requesting not to be identified.
The buyback “is very similar to a founder secondary [just a different structure],” says a VC investor, asking not to be named. “Founder shares are typically locked in. So, if it is a small amount, <Rs 10 crore type in a mature company, yes. Else, likely no.”
Indusplateau
Stealth
a year ago
Lol, I recently saw Open founders driving Mercedes car, I was like, wtf do they even make a revenue of that car value?
Someone said to me that some founder have property in Adarsh palm 🌴 retreat, 😅 🙈
Open founders and top management purchased all the top brand cars.
With their revenue they MIGHT get hero cycle.
the company itself is a family run business where only people from founders home town are promoted and they also bought new cars 😅
See more comments
In 2021-22, the company earned a meagre Rs 77 lakh in revenue from operations. In the year before, the number was zero. Net loss, meanwhile, jumped 26x to Rs 131 crore in 2021-22. It hasn’t, however, stopped the co-founders from making good money.
The earnings report for 2021-22 points to one interesting thing: A share buyback by the company. On 21 August 2021, Teachmint bought back shares from the four co-founders for a total consideration of Rs 59 crore. This was right after the company raised $20 million in a pre-Series B round led by Learn Capital.
“It is pretty shocking to see identical Mercedes SUVs in the parking lot. How can you do this after raising just a Series B?” asks a second former employee, also on condition of anonymity. “Especially when you don’t have a product and vision?”
PureStole96
Stealth
a year ago
Forbes 30 Under 30 Scammers strike again!
A colleague was praising teachmint as she made more than 5x on her Angel investment.
CaptainPlanet
Stealth
a year ago
trader
man their product was dogshit tbh, this one instance I was able to bypass the time locked assignments just by changing my phone date and time..
Cafeinatedpragmatist
Stealth
a year ago
Learn capital just got an expensive lesson
Skankhunt_24
Stealth
a year ago
Had worked with one of the co-founders in the past. He couldn't execute to save his life. Never was sure of TeachMint due to this. Still, wish them luck and humility.
Pure scammers. They knew that the startup was going to not work so they scammed 60 crore rupees from the investors, distributed it among themselves and then they couldn't care less about what anyone would say.
EdTech was born to fail from the get go, dumb investors. Tabhi mere Jio ne ye sab bakwaas ni kari
Discover More
Curated from across
