Unacademy co-founders Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini to step away from their roles
Sumit Jain, Founder of Graphy, which was acquired by Unacademy a few years ago and who was elevated to co-founder status in 2023, is expected to take over the reins of the edtech company.
Unacademy co-founders Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini are stepping away from their day-to-day roles at the edtech firm as they shift their focus to AirLearn, the company’s language learning app, which is expected to be spun off into a separate entity, people familiar with the matter told YourStory.
Sumit Jain, Founder of Graphy—which was acquired by Unacademy a few years ago and who was elevated to co-founder status in 2023—is expected to take over the reins of the edtech company, sources said.
The Economic Times, which first reported the development, said, the exit of the founders follows over a year of internal talks between Munjal, the Board, and shareholders about Unacademy’s future.
In September 2024, when The CapTable had reached out to Unacademy to check if the founders are indeed stepping down, all its board members and the founders had issued a “strong denial” saying “these are baseless rumours”.
Hemesh Singh, the third co-founder, had stepped down as chief technology officer to take on an advisory role in June 2024.
YourStory has reached out to Unacademy with queries.
Munjal and Saini’s departure comes as the Bengaluru-based company has shifted its focus to offline operations in a bid to revive growth, following a decline in revenue from its core online test preparation business in the post-pandemic environment.
More importantly, a potential merger or sale involving the edtech company did not materialise, partly due to differences in Unacademy’s valuation, sources noted.
In a social media post last July, Munjal said the edtech company had engaged in exploratory merger talks with other market players.
Even after the failed merger talks with Allen and Aakash, the company has explored potential mergers with other edtech players, including PhysicsWallah and larger education firms, as Unacademy’s investors continue to push for an acquisition, The CapTable had reported.
Meanwhile, Munjal has consistently expressed his enthusiasm on social media about Unacademy’s language learning app Airlearn (formerly Unacademy Languages). Launched in India in June 2024, the app is positioned to compete with global language learning platforms like Duolingo and Babbel.
Edited by Megha Reddy
