Heaptalk, Jakarta — Indonesia-based Edutech startup Zenius reportedly shut down its operations temporarily after operating more than 20 years. The company has not clarified in more detail the duration of the temporary closure of services on its platform. The startup that provides an online education platform claims that this complex resolution had to be executed due to experiencing operational obstacles internally.
“We performed this strategic move to cease operations temporarily. However, we guarantee that we will not stop trying to carry out and realize the vision of creating a smart Indonesia. We realize this decision will surprise many parties, especially our loyal users who have always supported and trusted us. We apologize and thank our users and partners for believing in us to revolutionize the education sector in the country,” said the CEO of Zenius, Sabda PS.
Instead of revealing the reasons for taking this hard move, Sabda appreciated the users who have been the main driving factor for Zenius’s journey since 2004. Generally. this startup started its inception as an offline tutoring center before finally changing its name to Zenius Education in 2007.
This platform provides multiple education programs to assist students – from elementary, middle, and high school to professional upskilling levels -facing exams, such as the Computer-Based National Examination (UNBK).
In its outgrowth, Zenius has seized multiple funding achievements. In 2020, the company landed a strategic investment at US$20 million from three leading investors: Northstar Group, Kinesys Group, and BeeNext. On the other hand, MDI Ventures also injected strategic funds into this startup for an undisclosed amount as of 2022. Previously, Zenius also acquired the out-of-school educational institution Primagama in 2022 and targeted broadening its presence in each city or regency throughout Indonesia by 2024.
However, with the macro economy turmoil, this edutech conducted restructuring steps by laying off around 25% of its employees, approximately 200 workforces. As the global economic conditions continue to worsen, the company also performed a further layoff round, which is claimed to impact about 600 employees in August 2022.
“User support and trust are invaluable to us. Thank you for being a part of Zenius in the last 20 years of our existence,” The CEO Sabda said.
