Edtech major Unacademy has closed its acquisition by UpGrad for just over $200 million, marking a 94% decline from its peak valuation of around $3.4 billion in 2021. Unacademy co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal confirmed the completion of the deal in a post on Tuesday, acknowledging that the company had raised money at its peak but was now being sold at a fraction of that valuation. Entrackrhad exclusively reported earlier that UpGrad was set to close the acquisition of Unacademy in a deal valued at around Rs 1,955 crore. The transaction was structured as an all-stock deal, with Munjal expected to continue leading Unacademy following the combination. Interestingly, Munjal said the deal was not driven by a cash crunch. According to him, Unacademy currently has a topline of around Rs 400 crore, with most of its businesses either profitable or near profitable. The company also has around Rs 900 crore in the bank, he added. According to Munjal, Unacademy had the option to continue independently but chose to combine with UpGrad after discussions with Screwvala and a belief that the merger would create a stronger education ecosystem. The acquisition gives UpGrad an entry into the online test-preparation segment, including categories such as UPSC, JEE, NEET and GATE. It also adds Unacademy’s educator network and other businesses to UpGrad’s existing higher education, upskilling and study-abroad portfolio. Munjal also highlighted Unacademy’s broader impact, saying its educators have crossed 10 billion views on YouTube. He added that the company conducted four ESOP buybacks that created liquidity for employees. While the exit value is far below Unacademy’s peak valuation, Munjal said he remains confident that shareholders can create significant value from the combined business going forward. Bareback Media has recently raised funding from a group of investors. Some of the investors may directly or indirectly be involved in a competing business or might be associated with other companies we might write about. This shall, however, not influence our reporting or coverage in any manner whatsoever. You may find a list of our investorshere.
