upGrad Seeks CCI’s Approval For Unacademy Acquisition

Edtech major upGrad has filed for regulatory approval from the Competition Commission of India to acquire Unacademy after the deal was finalised recently following months of speculation.

It was reported last week that the merger deal between higher learning-focused upGrad and test prep-focused Unacademy was nearing completion. The all-stock deal is expected to be at a significantly lower valuation of around ₹2,055 Cr (about $218 Mn), down 90% from Unacademy’s peak valuation of $3.4 Bn during its golden era in 2021.

In the regulatory filing, Ronnie Screwvala-led upGrad stated that the acquisition will allow it to enter the online test preparation segment, where it’s currently not present. It will also broaden the range of offerings to its current users along with providing shareholder value to Unacademy’s investors, it added.

Unacademy is expected to have a cash of ₹900-₹950 Cr on its books at the time of closing the transaction.

The deal finalisation comes following months of market speculation, during which the companies had also paused talks in January due to a valuation mismatch. Unacademy was reportedly seeking a valuation of around $300 Mn to $400 Mn for the acquisition at the time. Prior to that, Unacademy also held discussions with K-12 Techno Services and PhysicsWallah for an acquisition, both of which failed to materialise.

However, discussions restarted soon after, with Unacademy cofounder and CEO Gaurav Munjal announcing in March that upGrad had signed a term sheet to acquire the startup, adding that he will continue as CEO.

Screwvala noted at the time that the deal includes Unacademy’s other verticals as well. “They disrupted the sector once, and now with AI they plan to do it again. We are already seeing Airlearn gain global traction,” he said.

Founded in 2010 by Munjal, Hemesh Singh, and Roman Saini, Unacademy evolved from a YouTube channel to an online education platform by 2015, focusing on aiding students in preparing for competitive exams like NEET and CAT.

However, its fortunes began to take a hit when offline learning restarted post the pandemic. Munjal, in December last year, claimed that the startup managed to trim its burn to less than ₹175 Cr in 2025 from ₹1,400 Cr in 2022. Besides, he said its top line touched ₹600 Cr in the year, with profitability in sight for next year and a healthy balance sheet “with decades of runway”.

He told employees in January that Unacademy will be moving to a franchise-model for its offline business, which it had earlier bet on to stave off competition. He noted that this would make the business asset-light and capital efficient while increasing focus on the more lucrative online vertical.

The acquisition comes at a time when the edtech sector has failed to revive its past glory. It began to fade in 2023 in light of the BYJU’s saga which eroded investor confidence in the sector. Combined with a back-to-school mandate, a funding reset for the overall startup ecosystem, and the inability of many edtech startups to integrate with evolving technology, funding in the edtech sector has been on a downward trajectory for the past few years.

It reached an eight-year low of $249 Mn in 2025, down 56% from $572 Mn in 2024, according to Inc42’s Annual Indian Startup Trends Report, 2025.

However, amid all this, PhysicsWallah became the first major edtech company to list on the stock exchanges last year.

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