Unacademy cofounder Gaurav Munjal is stepping down as CEO, and board member Sumit Jain will take over, according to reports. The leadership transition comes amid broader organizational changes, a failed acquisition, and a renewed emphasis on the company’s standalone language-learning platform, AirLearn.
An era for Unacademy founding three is coming to an end as fellow cofounder Roman Saini also leaves day-to-day operations. Hemesh Singh, the third cofounder, has already departed in June 2024. Almost ten years ago, the three started Unacademy as a YouTube channel.
Unacademy has been progressively shifting from its online test-prep origins to an offline tutoring approach that requires greater investment. The shift has been difficult, though, as India’s edtech industry is struggling with a post-pandemic slump. It was decided at the board level that Munjal should leave since he allegedly did not want to run an offline teaching company.
Sumit Jain, the new CEO, has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and joined Unacademy in 2020 after the company purchased his firm, Opentalk. In 2016, Quikr purchased Commonfloor, a real estate company he had previously established.
Along with Munjal and Saini, prominent figures like SoftBank and General Atlantic, Bhavin Turakhia of Zeta, and Sujeet Kumar, a cofounder of Udaan, are on the board of Unacademy.
Tracxn claims that Singh owns 2.2% of Unacademy, while Munjal and Saini each share 3.4%. Nexus Venture Partners and Peak XV Partners each own approximately 14% of institutional investors, followed by SoftBank at 12% and General Atlantic at 11%.
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Munjal is leaving to concentrate on AirLearn, formerly known as Unacademy Languages. AirLearn, which is positioned as a stand-alone company and a rival to Duolingo, is apparently looking into speaking with investors and might have the backing of certain Unacademy stockholders.
Munjal referred to AirLearn as Unacademy’s “fastest-growing product” during a recent town hall, pointing out that it had 70,000 daily active users and an annualized revenue run rate of $2 million. Additionally, he stated that the company still has ₹1,200 crore in reserves after reducing its yearly cash burn from around ₹1,000 crore to less than ₹200 crore.
With its most recent investment round of $440 million in August 2021, headed by Temasek and supported by Tiger Global, Mirae Asset, and Dragoneer, Unacademy has raised a total of $880 million.
