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Elevation-backed hobby learning startup FrontRow has officially ceased its operations due to difficulties in finding a viable market for its product.

“We made the decision about two weeks ago. The process of shutting down operations takes time, and we were in the midst of determining the best approach,” FrontRow Co-founder Ishaan Preet Singh told YourStory.

“We are still exploring a couple of potential acquisitions of the IP/team etc but also deciding whether it just makes more sense to return the capital and will decide that with the board in the next couple of months,” Singh said, adding that it wouldn’t be prudent to continue spending capital while the discussions are on.

The startup had reduced its workforce by nearly 90%, and since November, a team of approximately 35 members had been working on multiple experiments in the non-academic learning space with the goal of finding product-market fit.

While the results were somewhat promising, the firm concluded that the market was not conducive to building a large, venture-backed business with revenue in the range of $100 million, Singh said.

He added that pursuing a smaller market didn’t align with the company’s long-term goals, and this realisation came from its experiments and insights gathered over the past six to eight months. 

Perhaps, in five to ten years, there may be an opportunity for a larger endeavour, but for now, it doesn’t seem viable, he noted.

The remaining employees were advised to seek job opportunities elsewhere, and the company is providing assistance for their transition.

Entrackr was the first to report on the development.

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FrontRow, founded in 2020 by Mikhil Raj, Ishaan Preet Singh, and Shubhadit Sharma, has secured a total funding of $18 million across three rounds, with notable investors including Peak XV Partners (Sequoia Capital), Lightspeed Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, and Elevation Capital. The company raised $14 million in a Series A funding round in September 2021.

The development comes at a time when several startups in the space, including the unicorns with projected valuations of at least $1 billion, are struggling to cope with mounting losses, slowing their expansion plans, and seeking to reduce their expenses amid a funding winter.

In April, edtech startup DUX Education stopped operations after struggling to raise funds amid a funding winter in the startup ecosystem.