'Spent less than $50M to reach a valuation of $1.5B, but...': Unacademy's Gaurav Munjal shares M&A plans on 10th anniversary 

Unacademy, once one of India’s most celebrated edtech startups, is now worth less than $500 million — a steep 85% drop from its pandemic-era peak — as the company undergoes a major reset and explores potential mergers or acquisitions. The revelation came directly from co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal in a detailed note posted on X on Wednesday, marking the platform’s 10th anniversary.

Munjal acknowledged that Unacademy’s valuation has fallen sharply from around $3.5 billion in 2021 to under $500 million in recent times. He also confirmed that the company is engaged in M&A discussions, though he did not disclose details. His remarks follow media reports suggesting that higher education and skilling platform upGrad is in talks to acquire Unacademy for $300–320 million — nearly 90% below its peak valuation.

Reflecting on the company’s struggles, Munjal described the last three years as the most challenging period since Unacademy’s inception. Demand for online learning shrank post-pandemic, competition intensified, and aggressive expansion plans backfired, leading to mounting losses and organisational turmoil.

“Until 2021, we had not seen a single month of degrowth,” he wrote. “But in the last three years, we saw losing market share in the game that we literally invented and it hurt.”

The note also revisited Unacademy’s origins. What began as a YouTube channel in 2010 — created by Munjal during his college days to help friends understand computer science concepts — officially became a platform in December 2015. The startup scaled rapidly by offering free content, building vibrant educator communities and championing a tech-first approach.

Between 2019 and 2021, the company experienced explosive growth after launching its subscription product. Paid subscribers climbed to nearly one million, and Unacademy raised more than $700 million across multiple rounds, attracting marquee investors and becoming a poster child of India’s edtech boom.

However, the dramatic post-Covid shift back to offline coaching centres, coupled with rising competition from lower-priced rivals, severely impacted growth. Munjal admitted that chasing high valuations during the boom years led to strategic missteps and cash burn at unsustainable levels.

Over the past three years, the company has undertaken aggressive cost rationalisation. Unacademy has slashed its annual burn from roughly Rs 1,400 crore in 2022 to under ₹175 crore in 2025, cut prices and refocused the business on core content and subscription offerings. For FY25, the firm posted Rs 826 crore in revenue and reduced its net losses by 31% to Rs 436 crore.

While consolidation remains a possibility, Munjal said Unacademy’s priority now is building sustainable, long-lasting education products with strong unit economics — not chasing valuation milestones.