According to several media reports, Unacademy co-founders Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini intend to leave their operational positions in the next two to three months.
The pair is presently in advanced talks with investors and the board to spin off Unacademy’s language learning software, Airlearn, as a distinct business. The offline business is anticipated to be taken over by Sumit Jain, the founder of Graphy, who was promoted to partner at Unacademy following the departure of co-founder Hemesh Singh last year.
The selection of a new leadership team to oversee Unacademy’s main online operations is ongoing. According to reports, Munjal formally informed the board of his intention to stand down in March of this year, having been considering doing so since last year.
Restructuring the Entire Operations Team
Munjal has remained on till now because, according to a media report, the board requested that he first lower the company’s burn. The offline business will be taken over by co-founder Sumit Jain, according to a succession plan, while Unacademy’s online activities will be run by a new leadership team.
After Hemesh Singh left his job as CTO of Unacademy and took an advising role, Jain took over as partner. He co-founded Graphy, Unacademy’s SaaS platform for educators and creators, after joining the firm in April 2020.
After Singh left, he was promoted to the board. After the Airlearn spin-off structure is established, Munjal and Saini are anticipated to depart Unacademy. The board has been presented with a plan by the co-founder that would enable him to run Airlearn on his own.
According to a person with knowledge of the discussions, “There is over 90% alignment on the matter, with some final negotiations remaining around equity and structure.” It has also been reported that Munjal has granted current Unacademy investors the opportunity to contribute to the new business after the spin-off is completed.
Airlearn Gaining Popularity
Meanwhile, Airlearn is expanding quickly and is thought to be Munjal’s next big venture. According to Munjal, who shared the company’s update on social media last month, the language-learning software, which competes with Duolingo, has 70,000 daily active users and around 3 lakh monthly users.
It also has 17,500 paying members and generates $2 million in recurring revenue annually. Spanish and French are the most often used languages, and the bulk of their users are from the US and the UK. In FY24, Unacademy’s sales dropped 7.4% to INR 839 crore, while its net losses sharply decreased by 62.4% to INR 631 crore.
According to Unacademy’s most recent report, the company’s main cash burn has decreased from over INR 1,000 crore per year three years ago to less than INR 200 crore this FY25. According to the co-founder, the company is currently in a “default alive” status with INR 1,250 crore in the bank.
He also mentioned that Graphy and PrepLadder, two of Unacademy’s enterprises, are making money each month.
In addition to revolutionising the Ed-Tech sector, Unacademy offers educators and enthusiastic learners an online platform. In India, Unacademy is one of the biggest learning platforms. The success of Unacademy, which achieves remarkable heights in the Ed Tech sector, inspires them to perform better for its students. At the moment, it provides free education to Indian students from the top instructors in the country.
Unacademy was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh, and Roman Saini. Their goal was to create a technology that would enable more individuals to receive high-quality education. Gaurav Munjal was a computer science student once.
In order to provide training lessons, he created Unacademy on YouTube in 2010. Hemesh Singh was very interested in technology, and Roman Saini, a former doctor, is now a teacher.
They later worked with Munjal to transform the channel into a complete edtech platform. Their expertise and passion for teaching have been crucial to Unacademy’s development. Professionals and students can learn online using Unacademy. It offers a large selection of courses and learning resources. It can be used to participate in interactive lectures and live sessions. It provides educational resources on a wide range of subjects as well as numerous competitive tests. Promoting broad access to education helps Unacademy achieve its mission of bolstering democracy.
Unacademy has expanded quickly since its founding. The site has seen exponential growth in its user base. It is enrolling millions of individuals in its classes. Its numerous courses, the interesting methods it aids in learning, and the presence of renowned instructors are the reasons for this expansion.
Unacademy operates on a freemium basis. To put it simply, Unacademy charges a subscription fee for its premium material while providing some of its fundamental services for free. While the live, interactive events with leading experts are paid, the pre-recorded classes are free.
While the basic content is free, Unacademy offers additional premium features and benefits through subscription plans.
Earning through a subscription model
To access its premium features, which include access to the most recent and updated Exclusive Content, live doubt-clearing sessions, mock exams, and individualised advice, students can choose to pay for memberships.
Earning through Exam Preparation and Test Series
For a variety of competitive exams, including UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railways, and others, Unacademy provides specialised courses and test series. The targeted preparation that these exam-specific courses offer is often available at an additional cost to students who are aspiring to take these exams.
Earning through Corporate Partnerships
Unacademy collaborates with schools, universities, and other educational establishments to offer online certification programmes and courses. These partnerships increase the legitimacy of Unacademy’s courses and broaden their audience reach.
Earning through Placements
This is Unacademy’s most recent feature. “Relevel” is the name of Unacademy’s placement platform. It is specifically made to link employers and job seekers. In other words, students can find their desired employment within 15 days after applying. Additionally, they will have access to courses tailored to their ideal career! Relevel claims to have over 2.35 lakh users and a 100% placement rate. To provide this service, the business charges a price.
USP of Unacademy
During FY22, Unacademy made INR 844 crore. This mammoth revenue is generated primarily through the selling of services, educational materials, and other kinds of income.
The core of Unacademy’s business strategy is a combination of advertising, live classes, subscription options, and instructional resources. Its revenue streams are further diversified by its strategic alliances and the introduction of platforms like Relevel and Graphy. Despite beginning as a free learning platform, Unacademy has effectively made money off of its services to establish itself as a significant force in the edtech industry, especially in the cutthroat exam preparation sector.
FAQ
How does Unacademy make money?
Unacademy makes money through subscription fees, live classes, advertisements, and partnerships with educational institutions.
Gaurav Munjal is the co-founder and CEO of Unacademy, one of India’s leading online education platforms. Under his leadership, Unacademy has expanded its offerings, attracting significant investment and becoming a key player in India’s booming edtech industry. His vision of creating accessible and high-quality educational content has driven the platform’s growth and helped establish it as a prominent name in the field of online learning.
Gaurav Munjal Biography
Name
Gaurav Munjal
Birthplace
Rajasthan, India
Born
8 September 1990
Nationality
Indian
Education
B.Tech in Computer Science (NMIMS University, Mumbai)
Position
Co-founder and CEO, Unacademy
Gaurav Munjal – Early Life and Education
Gaurav Munjal completed his schooling at St. Xavier’s College, Jaipur. As a bright student right from his college days, signs of his becoming an entrepreneur were quite evident. While he studied B.Tech at NMIMS, Mumbai, he co-founded Flatchat with Himesh Singh in 2014.
Flatchat links renters, seekers, potential owners, and persons searching for roommates. Munjal started Flatchat to assist individuals in finding compatible roommates. Munjal sold Flatchat to the real estate web portal CommonFloor in 2015 for $2.5 million.
In 2010, Munjal started his YouTube channel where he presented Java tutorials and other coding concepts. This channel later transitioned into what we know as Unacademy. He also worked at Directi as a software developer.
Gaurav Munjal – Unacademy
Unacademy Founders – Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh, Gaurav Munjal
Munjal found that their problem statement was the current state of the Indian education system. It is expensive and needs better placement options. To democratize education, Munjal, along with Hemesh Singh, Roman Saini, and Sumit Jain, officially founded Unacademy in 2015.
What began its journey as a YouTube channel, Unacademy today is an edtech platform helping aspiring students to prepare for competitive exams such as JEE, NEET, UPSC, Chartered Accountancy, GATE, UPSC NDA, CUET, Boards etc.
It launched Unacademy Plus, a paid subscription in 2019 where students could access live courses in 14 Indian languages apart from English.
It is a norm that Indian startups that have become unicorns generally have founders graduating from IITs and IIMs. Defying this norm, Munjal believes that a non-IIT background has helped him in his entrepreneurial journey. While answering a reader on Quora, Munjal explained why being a non-IITian worked for him. Here’s why:
“Sometimes IIT makes you complacent: Okay, avoiding all controversies here and not making a generalized statement, some IITians are very complacent about the fact that they are in IIT and for them that’s it, they want to get a good GPA and get placed. The fact that I was not in IIT and all my friends from school (Xavier’s Jaipur) were made me a little insecure and hence I struggled and worked hard a lot without being complacent.”
“Less Competition: Sometimes because of huge competition people get discouraged, for example, if I had started up at IIT, I would have been one of the many startups that year, and I may or may not have been noticed by the right guys. Whereas in my college we were the only ones running a startup, hence when an angel investor came to give a talk – we met and got along. The glass is always half full, never forget that.”
“There is no backup: Unlike IITs, we non-IITians didn’t have the backup of a good job. The only companies that came to our college were service companies offering packages of 3.2L per annum. I swore to myself in my second year that I would not join one of those and be a guinea pig. Thus, I struggled and worked hard a lot since I had no backup, the only way out was up.”
Since the inception of Unacademy, Munjal and his team of educators have been bringing about a change in the way Indian students learn. Deeply focused on the quality of education, Unacademy launched Graphy in 2020. Graphy is a tool that helps educators launch their online school in under 60 seconds.
Gaurav Munjal – Investments
Gaurav Munjal’s angel profile is quite a comprehensive one. Here’s an overview of his investments in the Indian startup landscape.
Gaurav Munjal has invested in 57 companies till date. Some notable companies in his investment portfolio include Pine Labs, Pratilipi, and Ultrahuman. He has invested in over 21 sectors including Enterprise Applications, Media, and others.
Company
Sector
Year Founded
Total Funding
Unacademy (Founder and CEO)
Edtech
2015
$880 million
Flatchat (Founder)
Consumer-centric
2013
$2.5 million
Pine Labs
Fintech
1998
$1.32 billion
MPL
Consumer-centric
2018
$396 million
Mastree
Edtech
2019
$545k
Rheo
Media & Entertainment
2019
$2.96 million
TapChief
Enterprise Applications
2016
$3.5 million
The most recent investment was in Infinyte Club (Series A Round) on Aug 12, 2024. LightFury Games ($8.5M), BiteSpeed ($3.46M), and Emversity ($11M) are other investments made in 2024.
Gaurav Munjal – Controversies
Gaurav Munjal’s video in August 2024, sparked erratic reactions when he announced that there would be no appraisals for his employees while wearing a $400 Burberry T-shirt. The entrepreneur faced backlash on social media for delivering unfortunate news while he wore an expensive outfit.
“I think 2023 was an average year for us. But 2024, if not great, was above average. But we did not hit our growth goals. The good part is that the burn is extremely low now, and we have a huge runway. And I kept saying that we don’t have a survival risk,” said Munjal explaining the reason for not giving out appraisals.
The announcement followed the layoff of 250 employees from marketing, sales, and streamline operations departments.
Unacademy CEO announces ‘zero appraisals’
Gaurav Munjal – Top Quotes
💡
“Leave Mumbai, Delhi and move to Bangalore”
In a conversation with Shardha Sharma of YourStory, Gaurav Munjal spoke about the challenges in the edtech industry. Additionally, he urged young entrepreneurs to move to Bangalore as provides the perfect ecosystem for tech startups. He believes that Bangalore provides a vital environment for budding startups whether it be finding the right opportunities or investors, increasing the odds for one’s success.
“Bangalore is a slower-paced city. The goal of tech parks of Mumbai and Delhi should be to move to Bangalore” added Munjal.
Final Words
Like every other dreamer, Gaurav Munjal had humble beginnings. He identified a problem, used his skills and built something that caters to a crucial demographic of the country.
Gaurav Munjal believes his approach to the edtech revolution is bullish. As he is in the ninth year of his entrepreneurship, his goal is to pull off a great IPO in the edtech sector.
Not depending on solely offering online education, Munjal has ventured into offline setups and language learning showing his willingness to experiment further. Despite having contemporaries like Allen and Phycics Wallah, Munjal’s relentless strive to offer quality education safeguards Unacademy’s success in the foreseeable future.
FAQs
Who is Gaurav Munjal?
Gaurav Munjal is the co-founder and CEO of Unacademy.
When was Unacademy founded?
Unacademy was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Dr. Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh in 2015.
What is Unacademy?
Unacademy is an online platform that makes both learning and teaching easy with its educational videos and lectures.
