upGrad has completed its acquisition of Unacademy in an all-stock transaction worth a little over $200 million, marking a major deal in the edtech industry. The M&A transaction, which brings together two major edtech businesses, gives upGrad an entry into the online test-preparation segment. It also helps upGrad connect with learners across more touchpoints. upGrad is best known for its online upskilling and career advancement courses for working professionals. The deal closes a notable chapter for Unacademy. At its peak in 2021, the company, which specialises in test preparation for competitive exams, was valued at about $3.4 billion. The final deal value is more than 90% below that high, highlighting how sharply investor expectations for consumer edtech have changed since the pandemic-era boom. Unacademy's co-founder and chief executive officer Gaurav Munjal has acknowledged the gap. “Six years ago today, Unacademy became a unicorn. Today, Unacademy has closed its acquisition by UpGrad for just over $200M. We raised at a peak, but sold at a fraction of that. I’m not going to dress these facts up,” he said in a statement. Munjal pointed out that the company was in a stronger financial position than the acquisition price alone suggests. He said Unacademy had revenue, or topline, of around Rs 400 crore, that most of its businesses were profitable or close to profitability, and that it had Rs 900 crore in the bank. He also stressed that the acquisition was a choice rather than a rescue forced by a cash crisis. “For a company with that financial position, the decision to sell is best understood as a strategic one rather than an emergency transaction,” Munjal wrote. He said the more he understood Ronnie Screwvala’s vision for upGrad, the clearer it became that combining the businesses could be “a better path for the ecosystem, not just for us”.
