From $3.5 Bn To $200 Mn: upGrad Completes Unacademy Acquisition

After months of negotiations and regulatory clearances, edtech major upGrad has completed its acquisition of Unacademy in a deal valued at just over $200 Mn.

Unacademy cofounder Gaurav Munjal announced the closure of the transaction in a post on X today.

“We raised at a peak, but sold at a fraction of that. I’m not going to dress these facts up. But I am proud of what this team did between those two numbers,” Munjal said. 

The final transaction value represents a decline of more than 94% from Unacademy’s peak valuation of $3.5 Bn in 2021. The startup has raised more than $830 Mn to date from investors such as SoftBank, Peak XV Partners, Elevation Capital, Blume Ventures, and Meta. 

The acquisition will give Ronnie Screwvala-led upGrad a foothold in the K-12 and competitive exam preparation segments. upGrad primarily operates in the higher education and professional upskilling space.

The CCI approved the deal in July.

Munjal said Unacademy was not forced into the transaction because of a cash crunch.

At the time of the acquisition, Unacademy had a topline of around ₹400 Cr and about ₹900 Cr in the bank, while most of its businesses were profitable or close to profitability, he claimed.

“With a topline of around 400 Cr, most businesses profitable or near-profitable, and 900 Cr in the bank, we had every option to keep going independently. Nobody was forcing this,” Munjal said.

(The story will be updated soon)

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