Unacademy’s Loss Soars By 494% In FY21; Revenue Up By 514.6%

Unacademy’s Gaurav Munjal Bats For Traction Market Fit Besides Product Market Fit To Achieve Success

SUMMARY

Unacademy clocked a loss of INR 1,537.4 Cr in FY21 in comparison to INR 258.6 Cr it posted in FY20

The startup clocked a total income of INR 464 Cr in FY21 as compared to INR 103 Cr in FY20

Unacademy’s expenses rose by 349% for FY21

Bengaluru-based Unacademy saw its loss widen by 494% for the March ending 2021. The second most valued edtech startup of India clocked a loss of INR 1,537.4 Cr in FY21 in comparison to INR 258.6 Cr it posted in FY20.

However, Gaurav Munjal-led Unacademy saw its total revenue rise by 350% in FY21 in comparison to FY20. The startup clocked a total income of INR 464 Cr in FY21 as compared to INR 103 Cr it clocked in FY20.

The startup saw its revenue operations soar by 514.6% in FY21. It clocked INR 397.6 Cr from operations revenue in FY21, a major uptick from INR 64.7 Cr it posted in FY20.

Unacademy’s expenses rose by 349% for FY21. It posted a total expense worth INR 2,029.9 Cr in FY21 as compared to INR 452 Cr it incurred in FY20.

One of the major reasons behind Unacademy’s rise in expenses is because of the significant rise in their employee benefit expense. The startup posted INR 748.4 Cr in employee benefit expense in FY21 as against INR 119.7 Cr it clocked in FY20.

Employee benefit expense mostly comprises the salary of employees and the employee stock option programme (ESOP) grant that the startup offers to its employees. Unacademy in July announced to issue stock options worth $40 Mn to its teachers on the platform. The startup later announced ESOP buyback worth $10.5 Mn. A startup ideally does ESOP buyback to give exit to their employees from shareholding pattern and increase its equity share pool.

Founded in 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh, and Roman Saini, Unacademy claims to have more than 50,000 registered educators and more than 62 Mn learners. The startup offers learnings in 14 languages across 5,000 cities. BYJU’s, the country’s most valued startup at $21 Bn claims to have over 100 Mn learners on its platform.

In August, Unacademy closed its Series H round worth $440 Mn at valuation of $3.44 Bn led by Singapore’s Temasek. The round also saw participation from SoftBank, General Atlantic, Tiger Global, Ritesh Aggarwal’s Aroa Ventures. The startup has also added Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal to its board this year.

Just like BYJU’s, Unacademy is also on an acquisition spree. The startup has already acquired five startups this year, the latest being Swiflearn, to optimise K-12 offerings.