Unacademy In Talks For Acquisition: Gaurav Munjal

Amid speculations on edtech unicorn Unacademy’s future, its CEO Gaurav Munjal has officially acknowledged that the startup is in merger and acquisition (M&A) talks.

Without giving details about the potential consolidation, the cofounder, in a post on X, indicated the startup’s willingness to go through the deal if it can lead to a “stronger entity”.

Over the past year or so, the startup has been said to be exploring acquisition talks with companies like Allen and upGrad. Most recently, the Ronnie Screwvala-led startup was reported to be in talks to acquire Unacademy for around $300 Mn.

In December 2024, Allen was reported to be engaged in talks to acquire Unacademy for $800 Mn. Back then, Munjal vehemently denied any possibility of a sale or M&A of any kind, labelling such reports as mere rumours. However, the sharp reversal this time indicates that the talks with upGrad might be moving ahead.

Last month, Screwvala told Economic Times that while he had held discussions with the cofounders and investors of Unacademy, no deal was finalised till then.

Munjal, in his post on X, also said that Unacademy’s valuation has possibly plummeted to below $500 Mn. This is a mere 14% of its peak valuation of $3.5 Bn in 2021.

Notably, Unacademy has raised over $830 Mn in funding from investors like Peak XV Partners, Softbank, WaterBridge Ventures, Meta, Sachin Tendulkar, among others.

“Three years ago, I used to care a lot about this, which probably led us to make some bad decisions – this chase of valuation. But today, I care more about building great products, having great unit economics, and growing profitably,” he said.

Profitability On The Horizon For Unacademy?

Summarising Unacademy’s decade-long journey today, Munjal put some light on the lows and the highs the startup saw over the years. From surviving investor pressure during the funding winter to unchecked cash burn, he noted the key highlights of the journey and asserted that Unacademy’s future is bright despite the looming consolidation deal. “In hindsight, the best year for Unacademy was not 2021, it was 2025,” he added.

The cofounder said that Unacademy trimmed its burn to less than INR 175 Cr in 2025 from INR 1,400 Cr in 2022. Besides, he said that the startup’s top line touched INR 600 Cr in the year, with profitability in sight for next year and a healthy balance sheet “with decades of runway”.

This comes months after it was reported that Unacademy cofounders Roman Saini and Munjal had exited the startup.

“Munjal is squarely focussed on Airlearn only for more than a year now, whereas Saini had long back lost interest in taking Unacademy forward,” insiders aware of the developments at Unacademy told Inc42 in May.

Back then, it was reported that Munjal had handed over the reins of Unacademy to CommonFloor founder Sumit Jain. Jain was leading the company’s Graphy app till the transition to the CEO post.

Notably, CommonFloor acquired Munjal’s first startup Flatchat.