Lightspeed-backed Frontrow mulls sale or shutdown, months after layoffs, restart

Frontrow mulls sale or shutdown

Lightspeed-backed edtech startup FrontRow is considering a potential sale or even a shutdown in the worst-case scenario, people aware of the matter told Moneycontrol, months after the company laid off 75 percent of its staff and said it would “start from scratch.”

The company’s backers including Lightspeed Venture Partners are looking for potential acquirers for the company, the people said, requesting anonymity. If these talks fall through, the company might mull a shutdown, the people added.

Entrackr was the first to report the development.

FrontRow has struggled to find a product-market fit despite multiple attempts, which led to the company contemplating these decisions.

“We (founders and investors) had always set a June date for taking a step back and reflecting on the pilots we're running and while we've made a ton of progress, and have a CM positive (albeit very small scale business), we're having multiple conversations on what's the best place for the company, including whether the market is large enough to support an independent player or whether this fits better within a larger multi category company. We will be figuring this out over the next couple of months,” said the edtech startup's co-founder Ishaan Preet Singh.

Singh said that after three to four experiments, the company concluded that it is not the right market for such solutions and it is too early.

The Bengaluru-based company was founded in 2020 by Shubhadit Sharma, Mikhil Raj, and Ishaan Preet Singh and counts Elevation Capital, Lightspeed India, Eight Roads Ventures, GSV Ventures among others, along with Unacademy's Gaurav Munjal as its backers.

Frontrow had raised $14 million as a part of its Series A round in September 2021.

After two rounds of layoffs in May and October 2021, the company was left with about 35-40 employees. Singh said the company is supporting some of these employees to find another job.

“We have also kept the team in the loop here, and are helping some of them find alternate jobs if they'd like. This isn't a capital or runway question (we have over 3 years of runway), it's more about making sure that when you raise capital with a vision of building a large scale business, you are honest on whether that's doable in a particular market as you learn more,” he added.

Front Row offered an e-learning platform for comedy, sports, creative arts, and hobbies. In October, Singh admitted that the business model could not scale and that the growth till now came as the company doubled down on its marketing and sales headcount, which did not fructify.