Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures-backed Quality Tutorials Pvt. Ltd, which runs edtech platform Lido Learning, has filed for insolvency, according to the company’s latest filings with the corporate affairs ministry.
In a meeting early this week, Lido’s board passed a special resolution to file for the corporate insolvency resolution process under section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (IBC) code, 2016.
Lido Learning had asked more than 1,200 employees to resign in February 2022. The startup had told employees that they may get their salaries in the next three months. However, most employees are yet to receive the dues.
“I haven’t received my two months' salary and incentives amounting to about Rs 86,000 despite the company making multiple commitments to pay in the coming months. I even received my full and final settlement calculations from the human resource department, but the money hasn’t been credited yet,” said Abhinav Kumar, who worked as a senior business development associate at Lido.
The company said in the filings that it is filing for insolvency as it is unable to pay off its debts to ex-employees, customers, vendors, lenders and to its sundry creditors.
With no tutors left to teach, several parents have filed first information reports (FIR) against the company, and in a few cases, against the sales employees as well, two former employees told VCCircle on condition of anonymity. A copy of an FIR was seen by VCCircle.
Kumar is also hounded by parents who bought Lido’s learning packages for their children. “Customers are asking for returns as there are no classes happening. The company hasn’t even paid the tutors.”
According to Kumar, even though a few senior and managerial-level persons received their dues, employees at the bottom level weren’t paid by the company. One of the former employees said that more than 300 people are still waiting for their salaries.
News portal Entrackr reported the development first.
Founded in 2019 by Sahil Sheth, Lido Learning was an online learning platform that provided live online classes online. Ronnie Screwvala, Anupam Mittal, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma are among the backers of the startup.
In September last year, the company had received $10 million from Screwvala's Unilazer Ventures. In total, it has raised nearly $20 million in funding.
