Indian edtech company upGrad has completed its acquisition of Unacademy through an all-stock transaction valuing the startup at INR 1,955 crore (USD $206 million), around 94% below its 2021 peak.
UpGrad co-founder and chairperson Ronnie Screwvala disclosed the valuation to TechCrunch, saying Unacademy shareholders would receive shares in upGrad, while angel investors were cashed out when the transaction closed.
First announced in March, the deal expands upGrad beyond its traditional higher education and workforce-learning focus, adding Unacademy’s online test-preparation, creator and language-learning businesses.
The Competition Commission of India approved the acquisition in July, clearing a key regulatory hurdle before the transaction was completed.
Unacademy co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal confirmed the completion in a September 1 post on X, acknowledging the scale of the decline from the company’s USD $3.44bn pandemic-era valuation.
“We raised at a peak, but sold at a fraction of that,” Munjal wrote. “I’m not going to dress these facts up.”
The final valuation is also well below the roughly USD $500m valuation previously estimated for Unacademy when the companies announced the planned transaction earlier this year.
Yet Munjal maintained that Unacademy was not forced into the deal by an immediate need for capital. He said the company had around INR 900 crore in cash, annual revenue of approximately INR 400 crore, and that most of its businesses were profitable or close to profitability.
“Nobody was forcing this,” he wrote, arguing that joining upGrad offered a more compelling path for the wider education ecosystem than continuing independently.
This coming together is a strong message about collaboration. The bigger question is whether we are going to be a success factor for India’s workforce
Ronnie Screwvala, UpGrad
Founded in 2015, Unacademy became one of India’s most prominent pandemic-era edtech companies, raising around USD $880m across 13 funding rounds, according to Tracxn, as it competed with rivals including Byju’s for students and educators.
The company subsequently cut costs, laid off employees and consolidated company-operated learning centres with franchise partners as classrooms reopened, demand for online learning weakened and investment in the sector contracted.
The acquisition covers the entire Unacademy Group, including medical test-preparation platform PrepLadder, creator platform Graphy and language-learning app Airlearn.
The Unacademy brand will be retained, while Munjal will continue as CEO and lead its online businesses and Airlearn, according to media reports.
For upGrad, the transaction creates a broader portfolio spanning higher education, professional learning, workforce upskilling and online test preparation. It also gives the company access to Unacademy’s consumer-facing products, technology and extensive network of learners and educators.
Screwvala said Unacademy would bring stronger consumer expertise, product-led technology and access to a different target audience into the group.
“This coming together is a strong message about collaboration,” Screwvala wrote. “The bigger question is whether we are going to be a success factor for India’s workforce.”
He said the combined teams could bring radically different and innovative thinking to the business, while highlighting Airlearn’s international growth as an example of how Indian education products can gain traction globally.
Airlearn will remain within upGrad for now, with Munjal and Screwvala expected to decide in around six months whether to continue developing it internally or seek external investment, according to TechCrunch.
The relationship between the companies predates the current consolidation wave. Screwvala said Munjal first approached him in 2020 about bringing Unacademy and upGrad together, with discussions resuming in July 2025 as Unacademy considered its future.
The companies signed a term sheet for the 100% share swap in March after earlier negotiations had stalled over valuation differences.
The transaction follows upGrad’s acquisition of a 90% stake in internship marketplace Internshala earlier this year, also through a share-swap arrangement.
The acquisition offers another marker of India’s post-pandemic edtech reset. Byju’s, once valued at USD $22bn, entered insolvency proceedings in 2024, while other providers have cut costs, adopted hybrid delivery or narrowed their operations as investors increasingly prioritise sustainable growth.
