Building Unacademy For Long Run, Not Doing Any M&A: Gaurav Munjal

Unacademy cofounder and chief executive officer Gaurav Munjal has clarified that the edtech startup is not looking for “any sale or M&A”.

This comes just two days after reports suggested that Unacademy was in advanced discussions with offline test preparation centre Allen Career Institute for a potential sale for $800 Mn.

However, the Unacademy’s chief took to LinkedIn today (December 7) and dismissed the reports of acquisition talks as “rumours”.

“We are building Unacademy for the long run. We are not doing any sale or M&A. Ignore the rumours,” Munjal said.

He went on to say that 2024 will be the best year for Unacademy in terms of growth in the offline business and overall unit economics.

Giving an overview of the company’s growth trajectory this year, he said that Unacademy saw a 30% growth in its centres’ business with unit economics improving considerably.

While the edtech startup witnessed a degrowth in its online test preparation business, unit economics of this vertical “improved significantly”, Munjal added.

Further, he said that cash burn at the group level has declined 50% this year and the company has a healthy cash reserve of $170 Mn with no debt and a runway of over 4 years.

In 2024, Unacademy’s SaaS arm Graphy grew by 40% profitably while its language learning product Airlearn surpassed the annual recurring revenue mark of $400K in the US, within just four months of the launch, according to Munjal.

Founded in 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh and Roman Saini, Unacademy started as an online test preparation platform. Since then, it has expanded to offline or hybrid learning and also operates verticals such as Relevel (job assessment tests), NextLevel (gamified job search), and Graphy (course creation and management).

Unacademy reported a 40% year-on-year decline in its consolidated net loss at INR 1,678.1 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). Operating revenue surged 26% YoY to INR 907 Cr.

The edtech startup has seen a slew of exits since last year, with cofounder Singh stepping down from an executive position and moving on to an advisory role in June 2024.

Further, Unacademy laid off 250 employees earlier this year as part of a restructuring exercise to become profitable.

It was also reported earlier that Unacademy was looking for a merger with K-12 Techno Services, but the talks fell through because of the company’s “shaky unit economics”.