Unacademy is an Indian EdTech Unicorn startup, founded in 2015 by Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini. Unacademy operates on a Freemium Business Model, it offers some courses for free and others through a subscription based business. Unacademy was started as a YouTube channel by Gaurav Munjal and was later registered as an official company.
The company has acquired some startups from the year 2020. Below are the startups acquired by the company.
Unacademy Acquisitions
1. WiFiStudy
2. Kreatryx
3. Coursavy
4. CodeChef
5. Mastree
6. PrepLadder
7. NeoStencil
8. TapChief
9. Handa Ka Funda
FAQ
Conclusion
Unacademy Acquisitions
India’s startups have been growing and are beginning to acquire market, it has started to attract several corporate giants like Google, Amazon and Twitter also have made investments in Indian startups.
Unacademy, which is valued at $510 million, is among the fastest growing companies in India’s EdTech sector. The startup claims it has grown its paid subscriber base to 200,000 users from 100,000 users in the last three months. It added that it has over 5 million monthly users for its live free classes and has conducted over 1.2 lakh live classes in June alone.
It has received a series of funding from Facebook and Nexus Ventures. It is valued at USD 2 Billion as on December 2020.
Unacademy’s co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal stated that they are consistently working towards building the world’s largest education system. He also added that they are looking to deepen their footprints across multiple categories.
Thus, they are on a look out for companies which has the same vision and like-minded organizations. He said that he has been working hard to democratize education and make learning affordable and accessible to each and every one.
Unacademy has acquired several Startups for its benefit and provide quality learning service in India to the learners.
1. WiFiStudy
Unacademy acquired Jaipur based online exam preparation platform called Wifistudy. Though it is a complete acquisition, the company will continue to operate independently.
With over 4.5 million subscribers and 70 million monthly video views, Wifistudy is one of the largest educational YouTube channels in the world,” said Gaurav Munjal, chief executive of Unacademy.
The acquisition will help Unacademy dive deeper into the test prep market. The company allows educators to create content, had plans to utilize these funds to expand into competitive exams such as the JEE.
This makes Wifistufy a perfect and suitable fit for Unacademy. Founded in 2013, Wifistudy helps aspirants through exam preparation tips, strategy, syllabus, and pattern. As part of the acquisition, Wifistudy will launch a profile on the Unacademy platform, which will help its learners to access these videos.
2. Kreatryx
Kreatryx is an EdTech startup for online exam preparation. It was founded in the year 2014 by Akash Porwal, Ankit Goyal and Rohit Nitin Joshi. The company mainly provides guidance, online contents and coaching to EE/ECE GATE Aspirants.
It has also created a Facebook group where the aspirants can discuss their doubts among themselves and also helps them to connect with the GATE toppers. The company aims to bridge the gap between student’s potential and performance by providing personalized and top-quality learning driven by technology.
Kreatryx was acquired by Unacademy in March 2020 through cash and stock deal. Kreatryx work as a separate entity under its founder Ankit Goyal even after acquisition. It runs under Dinesh Godara the Unacademy brand team head.
Himaya Presthitha
3. Coursavy
Coursavy is another e-learning platform which provides educational services. It was founded in the year 2018 by Vimal Rathore and Anuj Verma.
Coursavy offers courses for test preparation. The main feature of this platform is that you can learn and attend the courses according to your time and convenience. The courses include hand-made notes, revisions, syllabus, comprehensive quizzes, personalized goal tracking, schedules, reminders, test, and more. It helps the students to prepare for UPSC exams.
Coursavy was acquired by Unacademy in September 2020. It has strengthened Unacademy’s leadership position in UPSC CSE preparation. Coursavy now teaches on Unacademy and also mentors existing educators. It helps them in enhancing discipline amongst aspirants.
4. CodeChef
CodeChef was founded by Bhavin Turakhia in 2009. CodeChef is a coding platform which helps programmers to improve their coding and problem-solving skills. It hosts programming competitions every month with two small programming challenges. CodeChef also hosts discussions and training sessions on binary search and algorithms.
CodeChef also helps individuals who are new to the computer programming world. It conducts various forum discussions and algorithm tutorials.
Unacademy had acquired CodeChef in June 2020. During the acquisition Unacademy had told that CodeChef will double down its mission to create the best coding platform. Unacademy also told that it would provide free programming course for beginners.
Rishabh Rathi
5. Mastree
Mastree was set up in 2019 by Shrey Goyal and Royal Jain. It is a platform based on K-12 learning. Mastree focuses on subscription-based model. The main focus of the platform is on core curriculum subjects like Science, arts, mathematics, technology and engineering.
The mission of Mastree is to help students achieve academic excellence. It aims at increasing the curiosity of students by providing them with personalized and affordable education.
Mastree was acquired by Unacademy in July 2020 for USD 5 Million (around INR 36 crores). The co-founder and CEO of Unacademy has said that it would focus on providing affordable education. It also focuses on making the platform it more accessible for students.
Chayanika Goswami
6. PrepLadder
PrepLadder was found in the year 2015 by Deepanshu Goyal, Vittu Goyal and Sahil Goyal. PrepLadder is a platform which helps students in medical examinations. It also provides access to education services and preparation materials for medical examinations.
The vision of the company was to provide affordable education to students preparing for Post-Graduate medical entrance exams with utmost quality. Its aim was to provide the services across the country.
PrepLadder was acquired by Unacademy in July 2020. Unacademy has said that both the companies are sharing a common goal which is providing affordable education. It also said that it would provide quality education making it accessible to more students across the country. The company was acquired for USD 50 Million (around INR 362 crores).
Rishabh Rathi
7. NeoStencil
NeoStencil was founded in 2015 by Kush Beejal. NeoStencil is an EdTech test prep startup. NeoStencil has millions of students with more than 500 courses.
It provides test preparation courses for entrance exams, law exams, government jobs and much more.
Unacademy had acquired NeoStencil in December 2020. It has acquired NeoStencil for an undisclosed amount. Unacademy will focus on increasing its presence in Tier II and Tier III cities in India by this acquisition.
8. TapChief
TapChief was founded by Shashank Murali, Binay Krishna and Arjun Krishna in the year 2016. The company helps individuals to maintain their personal brands online and helps to learn and interact with experts.
It uses technology-based solutions to increase the confidence and make the professionals stronger in their respective domains by working with businesses across the world.
TapChief was acquired by Unacademy in February 2021. TapChief joined the Unacademy team with a valuation at INR 100 crore after acquisition. Co-founder and CEO of TapChief had told that the company is excited to be part of Unacademy and it had been a dream come true for them.
Vibhavari Madki
9. Handa Ka Funda
Handa Ka Funda is now CAT Funda. The EdTech Giant Unacademy has acquired Handa Ka Funda on Mar 2021 and onboarded the founder of Handa Ka Funda Ravi Handa. Ravi Handa is a prominent educator for CAT and MBA entrance exams.
Handa ka Funda is a online education platform started by Ravi Handa. The website offered online courses for various exams. Handa started teaching online in 2012 and so far more than 20,000 students have enrolled in his online courses across cities.
Handa will provide live daily classes on YouTube for CAT aspirants on YouTube channel CAT Funda. He aims to reach at least 1 lakh students via the free content. There is also another option where students can subscribe to Unacademy’s Plus courses. The collaboration with Handa ka Funda will surely strengthen Unacademy’s leadership position in the MBA test preparation market.
FAQ
Who is founder of Unacademy?
Gaurav Munjal, Himesh Singh and Roman Saini are the founders of Unacademy.
How does Unacademy make money?
Unacademy operates on a Freemium Business Model, it offers some courses for free and others through a subscription based business.
What is the valuation of Unacademy?
As of December 2020, Unacademy was valued at 2.0 billion US dollars.
Vidhi Punamiya
Conclusion
Unacademy has grown more with its marketing. It has also offered low-cost subscription plans to attract learners to its subscription platform. Unacademy has a presence in Indonesia too, it has about 30 educators. The company did not offer an update on how its international ambitions are holding up. Unacademy is now valued at around $2 billion, a huge jump in valuation.