Exclusive: Unacademy founders Munjal, Saini set to exit, shift focus to AirLearn
Unacademy
cofounder
Gaurav Munjal
is stepping down from his role as CEO and handing over the reins to
Sumit Jain
, amid a broader reset at the Bengaluru-based
edtech
company, a failed acquisition deal, and growing focus on its language learning app
AirLearn
, people familiar with the matter told ET.
Roman Saini
, fellow cofounder, is also moving out of an active role at the firm, these people added on the condition of anonymity.
Munjal and Saini — along with Hemesh Singh, who left the startup in June 2024 — had cofounded Unacademy a decade ago as a YouTube channel.
The departure of all three founders follows prolonged internal discussions between the company's shareholders and Munjal over Unacademy's future, amid struggles in its online business.
Munjal's exit comes as Unacademy continues to pivot away from its once-dominant online test prep model to a more capital-intensive offline strategy centred on physical coaching centres—a move that has proven challenging in the post-pandemic edtech downturn.
Unacademy's board includes representatives from
SoftBank
and General Atlantic as well as Zeta founder Bhavin Turakhia and Udaan cofounder Sujeet Kumar besides Munjal and Saini.
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Incoming CEO Jain, who is also on the board, joined Unacademy in 2020 when he sold his startup Opentalk to the edtech company. Jain had founded real estate listing portal Commonfloor and sold it to Quikr, an online classifieds operator, in 2016.
'Over the past year or more, the Unacademy board has been in talks with Munjal about his potential exit as he is not inclined on running an offline coaching centre,' said one of the persons cited. 'Now it has come to the point where they are all aligned and discussing the final terms of the founders leaving... The two of them will be handed a cash payout, but will likely continue to hold their shares in the firm.'
According to data platform Tracxn, Munjal and Saini each hold a 3.4% stake in Unacademy. Singh, the third cofounder, owns 2.2%. Nexus Venture Partners and Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India) own nearly 14% each, while SoftBank holds 12%, followed by General Atlantic with around 11%.
Unacademy's founders and board members did not respond to queries.
While the change has long been in the works, it also coincides with Munjal's growing focus on AirLearn, formerly known as Unacademy Languages, which is being developed as a standalone company. The shift has stirred a debate within the board, with some directors initially opposing the idea of raising fresh capital for a spinout while the core business remained under pressure.
Shifting goalposts
AirLearn has held preliminary talks with potential investors and may see participation from some of Unacademy's existing shareholders, one person said.
ET had reported
on December 4 last year that Unacademy was in talks with Kota-based Allen Career Institute for a potential acquisition, valuing the company at around $800 million, a steep cut of over 75% from its peak valuation of $3.4 billion. The deal talks failed over differences in valuation.
Unacademy has raised a total $880 million in funding. It last raised $440 million in an August 2021 round led by Singapore's Temasek with participation from Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Mirae Asset Venture and other existing investors.
Business under pressure
Unacademy started life as a YouTube channel in 2015 after Munjal and Singh sold their earlier startup Flatchat to Commonfloor.
In the test-prep segment, it competes with the likes of Byju's-owned Aakash Institute, and WestBridge Capital-backed PhysicsWallah, which has confidentially filed draft papers for an initial public offering at a Rs 35,000-40,000 crore valuation.
As Unacademy's online business declined in the post-pandemic period, the company pivoted toward expanding its offline presence, leading to multiple layoffs and significant restructuring.
Munjal's reluctance to lead the physical coaching centre model contributed to senior management churn, adding to the uncertainty over the company's future, ET reported December 4.
Chief operating officer Vivek Sinha resigned in August 2023. Chief financial officer Subramanian Ramachandran quit in October that year.
Munjal's increasing involvement in AirLearn — a consumer-facing app positioned as a competitor to Duolingo — reflects a broader shift in focus, amid growing headwinds for Unacademy's core business. The slowdown in India's edtech sector has led to a funding crunch, consolidation, and the collapse of the largest player, Byju's, which went bankrupt.
For FY24, Unacademy reported an operating revenue of Rs 840 crore, down 7% from the previous year. Its net loss narrowed to Rs 631 crore, a 62% reduction from FY23, helped by a series of cost-cutting measures and layoffs.
At a recent townhall, Munjal told employees that over the past three years, Unacademy's cash burn had reduced from over Rs 1,000 crore annually to under Rs 200 crore. He said AirLearn was the 'fastest-growing product' within the group, hitting around 70,000 daily active users and an annualised revenue run rate of $2 million. AirLearn is housed under Unacademy Inc, the group's Delaware, US-incorporated entity. Munjal also said that the company had Rs 1,200 crore ($140-150 million) in the bank.
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