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If Unacademy was not in loss then why was it sold? upGrad becomes new owner for Rs 1900 crore
Samira Vishwas | September 1, 2026 10:24 PM CST

Ronnie Screwvala-led upGrad has officially acquired edtech company Unacademy and the acquisition process has been completed. This deal is said to be worth Rs 1700 crore i.e. more than Rs 200 million. Unacademy's co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal himself confirmed this deal on September 1. This is being seen as a big change in the edtech sector of the country.

 

Giving information about this deal, Gaurav Munjal posted on social media. He wrote, 'Six years ago today Unacademy became a unicorn. Today Unacademy has completed the process of its acquisition by UpGrad. This deal has been done for a little more than 200 million dollars.

 

What did the upgrade get?

upGrad is India and Asia's largest online higher education and upskilling platform. After this deal, upGrad's dominance has increased further. After this deal, UpGrad's business has also reached the field of online competitive exam preparation. Unacademy has courses to prepare for competitive exams like Union Public Service Commission, Joint Entrance Examination, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and Graduate Eligibility Test in Engineering. Earlier, the business of Upgradation was to higher education and professional skills.

Had grown in Corona

For Unacademy, the Corona period i.e. the period of disaster had emerged as an opportunity. At that time, there was a boom in the online education sector across the country. . Unacademy became a unicorn about six years ago and during the pandemic, its valuation increased rapidly to $3.44 billion. But later the company limited its operations and focused on building a sustainable business. For the first time in November 2025, it was reported that UpGrad was in talks to buy Unacademy. At that time the deal was valued at between $300 and $400 million. The talks were halted for a time due to differences regarding valuation, but later resumed.

Agreement was reached in March

In March, both the companies had signed an agreement for a share-for-share deal. Under this, Gaurav Munjal was to remain as the Chief Executive Officer of Unacademy. In July, the Competition Commission of India approved the proposed deal, after which the necessary approvals for the deal were also received.

 

This acquisition has come at a time when Unacademy says that its financial condition has improved significantly after difficult times. According to Munjal, the current business of the company is around Rs 400 crore. He said that most of his businesses are profitable or have reached profit. The company also has about Rs 900 crore in the bank. Gaurav Munjal said that he has enough money and that is why he could take so long to think about this decision.

Company not sold due to financial compulsion

Munjal said that Unacademy had every option to continue the business independently. Referring to this in a long post shared on social media, he wrote, 'The company was earning around Rs 400 crore. Most businesses were profitable or nearing profit and had about Rs 900 crore in the bank. Therefore, we had full option to run the company ourselves further. There was no pressure on us to do this deal. But we felt that moving forward with an upgrade might be more interesting and a better opportunity.

 

Why was the decision taken?

Talking about the reasons behind this decision, Gaurav Munjal said, 'I met Ronnie several times in the last few years. He has built a big business in the field of higher education through UpGrad. His thinking regarding Indian education also influenced me a lot. That's why I always had a desire to work with him. Gaurav Munjal said that we had no shortage of money, so we did not take the decision in haste and got time to think carefully about the deal.

 


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