INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
London ed tech startup pi-top has gone through another round of layoffs, TechCrunch has learned.Pi-top confirmed that eight jobs have been
although we have also heard that company headcount is now considerably lower than that.One source told us that 12 jobs have gone in the
there have been any changes to its China team.Pi-top said in August that the layoffs were related to implementing a new strategy.Commenting
further eight roles at the U.K
office have been informed to staff as at risk of redundancy
Affected jobs at risk include roles in product, marketing, creative services, customer support and finance.We also understand that a number
of employees have left the company of their own accord in recent months, following an earlier round of layoffs.Pi-top did not provide
and will be increasing our numbers in the U.S
exercise and also linked to implementing a new strategy
Staff have also been told that the business focus has shifted to the U.S schools market.As we reported earlier this year, pi-top appointed a
new executive chairman of its board who has a strong U.S
focus: Stanley Buchesky served in the Trump administration as an interim CFO for the U.S
Department of Education under Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
He is also the founder of a U.S
ed tech seed fund.Sources familiar with pi-top say the company is seeking to pivot away from making proprietary ed tech hardware to focus on
a SaaS learning platform for teaching STEM, called pi-top Further.At the start of this year it crowdfunded a fourth-gen STEM device, the
pi-top 4, with an estimated shipping date of this month
The crowdfunder attracted 521 backers, pledging close to $200,000 to fund the project
coding window that powers the projects students build
With pi-top, teachers can effectively use Project Based Learning and students can learn by doing and apply what they learn to the real
