Unacademy Explained

Unacademy
Type:Private
Industry:Edtech
Founders:
  • Gaurav Munjal
  • Hemesh Singh
  • Roman Saini
Hq Location City:Bangalore, Karnataka
Hq Location Country:India
Area Served:Worldwide
Revenue: (FY23)[1]
Profit: (FY23)
Subsid:
  • WiFiStudy
  • Kreatryx
  • CodeChef
  • PrepLadder
  • Mastree
  • Coursavy
  • TapChief
  • Rheo TV
  • Swiflearn
  • Relevel
  • Graphy

Unacademy is an Indian multinational educational technology company that provides online educational platform[2] with its headquarters in Bangalore. It prepares students for various competitive exams (like JEE, NEET, UPSC, Chartered Accountancy, GATE, UPSC NDA, CUET, Boards etc.), as well as provides content on foundational (K-12) and skill building courses (programming, photography, entrepreneurship, etc.). It was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh and Roman Saini in 2015. As of May 2022, Unacademy was valued at US$3.44 billion.[3]

Product and services

In February 2019, Unacademy launched its subscription-based model, Unacademy Plus. The Unacademy Plus Subscription provides students access to live courses by educators across the country in English and 14 Indian languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Bhojpuri etc.

In 2020, Unacademy launched Graphy, that helps creators launch their online school in under 60 seconds.[4] In May 2022, Unacademy opened its first offline learning centre in Kota, Rajasthan, followed up with other centers in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru etc.[5] [6] [7]

History

Unacademy started off as a YouTube channel created by Gaurav Munjal in 2015 when he was an engineering student in Mumbai.[8] Gaurav uploaded a short video tutorial on computer graphics on his YouTube channel to help his peers prepare for the semester exams. In December 2015, Gaurav Munjal roped in two of his friends, Hemesh Singh and Roman Saini, and launched Unacademy app to create free interactive content.[9] [10] [11]

By 2017, it had over 1 million learners, 5000 plus registered educators and over 40,000 classes launched. In January 2022, Unacademy became one of the founding members of IAMAI's India EdTech Consortium along with other edtech firms like Simplilearn, PrepInsta Prime, UpGrad, Byjus and Vedantu.[12]

Acquisitions

In 2018, Unacademy acquired WiFiStudy for $10 million, a Jaipur-based online exam preparation and learning platform founded by Dinesh Godara in 2013.[13] In March 2020 acquired Kreatryx, an online preparation platform for GATE and ESE. In the same year, Unacademy acquired CodeChef, an educational initiative for the programming community founded by Indian billionaire Bhavin Turakhia in 2009, PrepLadder, a postgraduate medical entrance exam preparation platform, in a cash and stock deal worth $50 million, Mastree, and Coursavy, a Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) test preparation platform for 1000 crores.[14]

Unacademy shut down the operations at Mastree after a year of acquisition.[15] In 2021 Unacademy acquired TapChief, Rheo TV and Swiflearn.

Funding and valuation

In January 2017, it received Series A funding of $4.5 million from Blume Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners.

In 2019, Unacademy launched its subscription-based model, Unacademy Plus and reported an ARR of US$30 million.[16] [17] In the same year, Unacademy secured nearly $87 million from investors, such as SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital India, SAIF Partners, Steadview Capital, Nexus Ventures and Blume Ventures.[18] Unacademy was the second company in India to receive a direct investment from Facebook.[19]

In the year 2020, Unacademy achieved a unicorn status after closing a $150m investment round with SoftBank Vision Fund at a $1.5 billion valuation. In the same year, it was named as one of the official sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for year 2020–22. In November 2020, it raised a Series - G funding from Tiger Global Management and Dragoneer Investment Group at a $2 billion valuation.[20]

In January 2021, Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadview Capital and General Atlantic purchased $50 million-worth of shares from existing investors.[21] In August 2021, Unacademy raised $440 million in a Series H funding round led by Temasek, with participation from General Atlantic, Tiger Global, and SoftBank Vision Fund, Aroa Ventures, the family office of OYO Founder Ritesh Agarwal, and Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and CEO at Zomato. In September 2021 it announced ESOPs (employee stock ownership plan) buyback programme worth $10.5 million for employees and teachers.

Activities

Criticism

In January 2020, Unacademy suffered a data leak by the hacker group ShinyHunters that led to the exposure of personal data of nearly 22 million users. The breach included user records of employees from Reliance Industries, TCS, HDFC, SBI, Infosys, Cognizant, Wipro, Accenture, Facebook and Google, among others.[29] The records appeared for sale on a dark web forum, with the seller asking for $2000. Unacademy officials later confirmed that nearly 11 million accounts were compromised, but nothing valuable was leaked or misused. Unacademy re-assured the fact that no sensitive information has been compromised in their official statement on the issue.[30] [31]

In May 2021, it was criticized for posting questions in their Test Series that were religiously inclined and were claimed to be anti-national in nature. Learners complain that often their educators are removed from the system, leaving the syllabus mid-way. Recently, Unacademy was under scrutiny for laying off both educators as well as full-time employees.[32] [33] [34]

Brajesh Maheshwari who is the co-founder and director of Allen Career Institute threatened its teachers of leaving the institute and moving to the other offline coaching centres after Unacademy opened a coaching centre in Kota and had roped in several teachers from Allen. He also stated that Allen Career Institute will not accept the teacher back into the institute if they leave the institute in the first place to join other institute like Unacademy and Physicswallah[35] Unacademy also suspended contracts of educators to cut cost due to funding winter in July 2022.[36]

PrepLadder

In 2021, Sri Lankan company Medical Joyworks filed a suit in the Bombay Civil Court alleging that PrepLadder, a subsidiary of Unacademy, has plagiarized Medical Joyworks' Prognosis application and other property.[37] The court in its order on 20 September 2021 stated that "Unacademy cannot use its PrepLadder app, website and any other content until all proprietary information, know-how, and technology belonging to Medical Joyworks have been removed to the satisfaction of Medical Joyworks and an independent auditor."[38]

However, on 24 September 2021, the Bombay High Court stayed this judgement when the legal counsel appearing for PrepLadder alleged that the civil court's order was completely erroneous since the civil judge had passed it without jurisdiction.[39]

'Vote for educated' leaders controversy

On 17 August 2023 Unacademy fired Karan Sangwan, a teacher, after a video of him urging students to not vote for those who only focus on changing names, and to elect well-educated politicians, went viral on 14 August.[40] Roman Saini, Unacademy cofounder defended his removal by pointing that classroom is not a place to share personal opinions and views. He further noted that platform was forced to do so.[41] [42] [43] Reacting, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal questioned if it is a crime to ask people to vote for educated people. Supriya Shrinate wrote: “Sad to see such spineless and weak people run an education platform.”[43] [41]

Awards and nominations

Notes and References

  1. News: Unacademy’s FY23 revenue rises to ₹907 cr, loss shrinks . 27 January 2024 . BusinessLine . 4 January 2024 . en.
  2. Web site: Unacademy launches offline classes to take on Byju's-owned Aakash Institute . 5 August 2022 . Business Insider.
  3. Web site: Subramaniam . Nikhil . 13 July 2022 . Unacademy's Downward Spiral: Product Fumbles & Failed Acquisitions Take Heavy Toll . 16 July 2022 . Inc42 Media . en.
  4. News: Majumdar . Debleena . Sharma . Disha . From Unacademy's Graphy to Teachmint, how tech platforms are driving the teacher-creator economy . The Economic Times . 24 July 2022.
  5. Web site: Sen . Meghna . 23 June 2022 . Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal bullish on edtech sector. Here' why . 29 June 2022 . mint . en.
  6. News: Abrar . Peerzada . 28 June 2022 . Edtech firms build brick-and-mortar centres across India to woo students . Business Standard India . 29 June 2022.
  7. News: Dilipkumar . Bhavya . Edtech's post-Covid offline push continues with Unacademy Centres . The Economic Times . 1 July 2022.
  8. Web site: Singh . Rajiv . 22 June 2022 . Unacademy's Gaurav Munjal Is Ready To Drink The Polyjuice Potion. Can Professor Snape Transfigure Into Professor McGonagall? . 29 June 2022 . Forbes India . en.
  9. Web site: Kashyap . Hemant . 14 June 2022 . Allen Teachers Jump Ship To Unacademy; Will Students Follow? . 29 June 2022 . Inc42 Media . en.
  10. Web site: Dhamija . Anshul . 6 February 2018 . Unacademy: A New (digital Education) Academy . 29 June 2022 . . en.
  11. Web site: Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh - India's Young & Brightest Entrepreneurs in 40 Under 40 2019 - Fortune India . 5 July 2022 . Fortune India . en.
  12. Web site: Pushkarna . Akshit . What's Wrong With India's Booming Edtech Industry . 16 July 2022 . Entrepreneur . en.
  13. Web site: Sarda . Pranit . 17 February 2020 . Why YouTube Still Rules The Edtech Roost . 24 July 2022 . Forbes India . en.
  14. Web site: 25 September 2020 . Edtech Unicorn Unacademy Acquires UPSC Test Prep Platform Coursavy . 29 June 2022 . Inc42 Media . en.
  15. News: Unacademy shuts Mastree after a year of acquisition . The Economic Times . 29 June 2022.
  16. News: Malik . Yuvraj . 16 April 2019 . Unacademy: Helping people turn educators to millions of students . Business Standard India . 24 July 2022.
  17. News: Unacademy eyes USD 300 mn recurring revenues in coming years . The Economic Times . 30 June 2022.
  18. News: 13 September 2017 . Unacademy secures $11.5M funding led by Sequoia India & SAIF Partners . . 29 June 2022.
  19. Web site: Vankipuram . Meera . 24 February 2020 . Unacademy, Byju's success lifts fortunes of edtech start-ups . 29 June 2022 . . en.
  20. News: Unacademy valued at $2 billion in new financing by Tiger Global, Dragoneer . The Economic Times . 29 June 2022.
  21. News: Abrar . Peerzada . 13 January 2021 . Tiger Global, others buy $50 mn shares from existing investors of Unacademy . . 29 June 2022.
  22. Web site: Vankipuram . Meera . 20 March 2020 . Covid-19 impact: Online learning companies see spike in number of students . 24 July 2022 . mint . en.
  23. Web site: Virat Kohli, Anushka Sharma, Shashi Tharoor and Kiran Bedi to deliver live lectures on Unacademy . 5 July 2022 . Business Insider.
  24. Web site: 'Legends on Unacademy' to be on Times Now, ET Now - Times of India . 5 July 2022 . The Times of India . en.
  25. Web site: Thacker . Hency . 28 May 2021 . Indian Entities Extending Support to COVID Orphans . 5 July 2022 . The CSR Journal . en-GB.
  26. Web site: NSDC partners with Relevel by Unacademy to provide employment opportunities . 24 July 2022 . Financialexpress . en.
  27. Web site: Unacademy signs MoU with Himachal Pradesh Government, empowering aspirants for competitive exams . 29 June 2022 . Financialexpress . en.
  28. Web site: This edtech company is aiming to teach 5 lakh girls, check details here . 24 July 2022 . India Today . en.
  29. News: Chandrashekhar . Anandi . Unacademy information on sale on the darkweb . . 29 June 2022.
  30. Web site: Abrams . Lawrence . 6 May 2020 . Hacker sells 22 million Unacademy user records after data breach . 4 July 2022 . . en-us.
  31. Web site: 11 million Unacademy user accounts were hacked in January — and they are now up for sale on Dark Web . 29 June 2022 . Business Insider.
  32. Web site: 26 September 2021 . Unacademy educator calls tribals stupid in lecture, firm regrets . 29 June 2022 . The Indian Express . en.
  33. Web site: #ShameOnUnacademy trends on Twitter after the education app sponsors 'Anti-Hindu skit' that has left netizens fuming . 29 June 2022 . Free Press Journal . en.
  34. Web site: Watch: Unacademy educator's racist comments against tribals spark outrage; here's what happened . 24 July 2022 . Free Press Journal . en.
  35. Web site: 14 June 2022 . 'Sharafat ki Duniya Khatam', Says Allen Chief, Threatens Teachers Leaving Institute . 29 June 2022 . News18 . en.
  36. Web site: Jose . Teena . 3 August 2022 . Edtech Unicorn Unacademy Suspends Contracts Of Educators To Cut Cost . 16 August 2022 . Entrepreneur . en.
  37. News: Bombay HC stays order that barred Unacademy from using PrepLadder app . The Economic Times . 29 June 2022.
  38. Web site: Mundhra . Laxitha . 22 September 2021 . Edtech Startup Unacademy 'reviewing' Court Order Restraining It To Use PrepLadder In Plagiarism Row . 30 June 2022 . Inc42 Media . en.
  39. News: Bombay HC stays order that barred Unacademy from using PrepLadder app . The Economic Times . 30 June 2022.
  40. Web site: Noor . Aliza . 2023-08-18 . Unacademy Teacher Karan Sangwan Fired After He Urged Students to Vote for ‘Educated Leaders’ . 2023-08-19 . TheQuint . en.
  41. Web site: 2023-08-18 . Unacademy sacks teacher who urged students to vote for ‘educated candidates’: ‘Classroom not a place to share personal views’ . 2023-08-19 . The Indian Express . en.
  42. Web site: 2023-08-18 . Unacademy fires teacher who urged students to vote for ‘educated candidates’ . 2023-08-19 . mint . en.
  43. Web site: 2023-08-18 . Unacademy gets pulled up by politicians after sacking tutor over ‘vote for educated’ remark, issues clarification . 2023-08-19 . Financialexpress . en.
  44. Web site: TAN . Shi Hui . 18 November 2020 . Announcing the winners for the ORIGIN Innovation Awards 2020 . 5 July 2022 . TechNode Global . en-US.
  45. Web site: 20 January 2018 . Former Cricketer Virender Sehwag Awarded Social Media Person of the Year at 8th India Digital Awards . 5 July 2022 . Media Infoline . en-US.
  46. Web site: Global EdTech 50 . 16 July 2022 . gsv.ventures.
  47. Web site: 22 September 2021 . Unicorns Unacademy, Udaan, and CRED top start-ups where India wants to work now: LinkedIn report . 4 July 2022 . Business Line . en.
  48. Web site: Unacademy, Udaan, CRED Dominate Latest LinkedIn Top Startups India List . 4 July 2022 . Forbes India . en.
  49. Web site: LinkedIn top startups India list 2021: Unicorns Unacademy, Udaan, CRED are the companies in the list . 4 July 2022 . Moneycontrol . en.

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