Lightspeed and Deepika Padukone-backed FrontRow has become the third extracurricular activity startup, after Crejo.Fun and SuperLearn, to shut operations since the advent of the funding winter last year.

FrontRow, which was looking for an acquisition deal after laying off 90% of its workforce earlier, decided to shut its operations in mid-June, sources told.

Ishaan Preet Singh, co-founder of FrontRow, confirmed the development and said the company realised that it would be senseless to burn money.

“We are still exploring a couple of potential acquisitions of the IP (intellectual property) and the team, or we will return the capital,” Singh told.

This came months after the company laid off 75 percent of its staff and said it would “start from scratch.” After two rounds of layoffs in May and October 2022, the company was left with about 35-40 employees.

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

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

FrontRow 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.

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

With this Frontrow joins the list of edtech companies like Udayy, and Lido, that had to shut shop with slowdown in demand for online learning.