Lido Learning

Lido Learning was an Indian edtech company founded by Sahil Sheth in April 2019 that offered live online small-group tutoring classes for students from kindergarten to grade 12.^1241215 The company raised $23.5 million across multiple funding rounds from investors including BAce Capital, Picus Capital, and Ronnie Screwvala's Unilazer Ventures.^210111215 Lido Learning shut down operations in February 2022 due to a cash crunch and filed for bankruptcy in September 2022.^1246121315

Timeline

Money raised

Lido Learning raised $3 million in a Series A funding round in November 2019.¹²¹¹ The Series A round was led by Ronnie Screwvala, with participation from Anupam Mittal and others.¹¹ In March 2020, Lido Learning raised $10.5 million in a Series B funding round, with BAce Capital leading the round.¹²¹⁰ BAce Capital invested $7.5 million in the Series B round, and the round included participation from Picus Capital and Paytm President Madhur Deora.¹⁰¹¹ In December 2020, Lido Learning raised $1.3 million from Oracle Insurance Group and other investors.¹¹ In September 2021, Lido Learning raised $10 million in a Series C funding round led by Unilazer Ventures.^12111215 The total funding raised by Lido Learning was $23.5 million, according to The Runway Ventures.² Inc42 Datalabs reported total funding of $21.8 million across four rounds.¹¹ Lido Learning was in talks with Temasek to raise $30 million, but the deal did not materialize.⁴¹² The company also expected funding from ByteDance ($100 million) and Cure.fit's Mukesh Bansal ($10 million), but both deals failed.¹²

Investors named in the sources: BAce Capital^1210111215, Picus Capital^10111215, Unilazer Ventures^12111215, Ronnie Screwvala^1210111215, Anupam Mittal¹¹¹²¹⁵, Ananth Narayanan^10111215, Vijay Shekhar Sharma¹²¹⁵, Mukesh Bansal¹²¹⁵, 9Unicorns¹²¹⁵, Oracle Insurance Group¹¹, Madhur Deora¹⁰.

What happened

Lido Learning was founded by Sahil Sheth in April 2019 in Mumbai, India.¹² The company offered live online small-group tutoring classes for students from kindergarten to grade 12.^1241215 Classes covered mathematics, science, English, and coding, with a maximum teacher-student ratio of 1:6.^1241015 Sahil Sheth previously founded Infinite Student, which was acquired by Byju's in 2015, and he served as Vice President at Byju's before starting Lido Learning.¹²¹⁵ By November 2019, Lido Learning had 138 employees and raised $3 million in Series A funding.¹²¹¹

Six months later, the company had over 2,000 paying customers and nearly 400 teachers.¹² In March 2020, Lido Learning raised $10.5 million in Series B funding, with BAce Capital leading the round.¹²¹⁰ In September 2021, Lido Learning raised $10 million in Series C funding led by Unilazer Ventures.^12111215 The company announced plans to expand internationally to the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.¹²¹⁵ Lido Learning opened coding classes in the US and Canada in September 2021.¹²⁴

The company spent a significant portion of the Series C funds on a TV advertising campaign during the Indian Premier League.¹⁵ Lido Learning hired OYO's Jagnoor Singh as Global Chief Business Officer in October 2021, but he left within three months to join Unacademy.¹⁵ Lido Learning struggled to meet refund requests from customers and delayed payments to vendors and employees.¹¹⁵ The company failed to deposit employees' provident fund contributions and stalled full-and-final settlements for former employees.¹¹⁵ In January 2022, Lido Learning laid off 1,200 employees due to financial strain.²

The company expected two major funding deals: $100 million from ByteDance and $10 million from Cure.fit's Mukesh Bansal, but both failed.¹² On February 4, 2022, Lido Learning announced it was shutting down operations due to lack of funds.¹⁴ On February 7, 2022, founder Sahil Sheth told employees in a virtual meeting that the company would cease operations.¹⁵ The company asked employees for 90 days to settle dues, including unpaid salaries for January.¹⁵ Parents complained about unprocessed refunds and lack of customer service after the shutdown.¹²¹⁵

Some parents formed a collective with more than a hundred members on a WhatsApp group to consider legal action.¹⁵ A parent filed a complaint with the Consumer Forum, adding to nearly 70-80 existing complaints against Lido Learning.¹⁵ Former employees filed police complaints against founder Sahil Sheth for non-payment of provident fund dues.¹⁵ Vendors reported unpaid dues, including a co-working space that was vacated without paying rent for at least three months.¹⁵ Lido Learning had 700-800 tutors at the time of shutdown, many of whom were awaiting pending salaries.¹⁵

The company's board passed a resolution on September 5, 2022, to file for bankruptcy under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.¹² Lido Learning officially filed for bankruptcy with the National Company Law Tribunal on September 8, 2022.¹²¹³ The company had been in talks with Reliance Industries for a potential buyout, but the talks did not fructify.¹² Reliance Industries denied having any interest in acquiring Lido Learning.¹² Lido Learning's failure highlighted issues such as misselling and miscommunication in the Indian edtech sector.¹⁵

Legal outcomes

• filedLido Learning filed for bankruptcy under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code with the National Company Law Tribunal.¹²¹³
• filedFormer employees filed police complaints against founder Sahil Sheth for non-payment of provident fund dues.¹⁵
• filedParents filed complaints with the Consumer Forum against Lido Learning for unprocessed refunds.¹⁵

Where the founders are now

Sahil Sheth did not respond to ET's text messages and emails regarding the bankruptcy filing.¹²

Lessons, as others put them

"I feel foolish. I feel embarrassed. How did I make this mistake?"Parents who enrolled their children for online classes with Lido Learning²¹⁵

"It's my hard-earned money. Not even in my worst nightmare did I expect to end up in this situation."Yatin Malik, a parent who enrolled his 7-year-old son with Lido Learning²¹⁵

Sources

1. Lido Learning Shuts Down: What happened to Lido Learning?, buildd
2. How Lido Learning went bust after raising $23.5 million, The Runway Ventures, Jul 7, 202
4. Brandbook, mybrandbook.co.in
6. CHAPTER– 12, globalconference.info
10. Lido Learning raises $7.5 million from Alibaba-backed BAce Capital- Moneycontrol.com, Moneycontrol, Apr 7, 202
11. Lido Learning Funding 2026 – Total Funding, Rounds & Investors, Datalabs
12. lido learning: Cash-strapped edtech startup Lido Learning files for bankruptcy - The Economic Times, The Economic Times, Sep 8, 202
13. Google Play flirts with fantasy; Lido Learning is officially bankrupt, Moneycontrol, Sep 8, 202
15. Lido Learning’s collapse: A story of lost trust, sleep and hard-earned money - CNBC TV18, CNBCTV18, 2022-03-08

How this case file was put together

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