Entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala, the founder of Upgrad, has announced the signing of a term sheet to acquire Bengaluru-headquartered edtech company Unacademy. In a post on social media platform X  Screwvala wrote,   “We at upGrad have signed a term sheet to acquire Unacademy in an all-stock deal, with Founder and CEO @gauravmunjal staying on to build Unacademy and focus on what it does best, creating online education products that learners love. We have also agreed to a break fee were we not [to] close”. While the deal is yet to be finalised, Screwvala further said that, with Airlearn (a language-learning app) gaining global traction, if the deal closed successfully, the expanded focus from K12 to forever learning would be on a strong trajectory.    

Unacademy founder Gaurav Munjal, who had in December last year confirmed that an M&A was on the table, said that the deal would be a 100% share swap deal. “Neither side will disclose the valuation until closing, when the papers are filed and the transaction becomes public,” he wrote in a post on X.  

Outlining Unacademy's moves on the business side in the past 12 months, Munjal said that the company consolidated the centres it operated with franchise partners to refocus on building online. “We completed a ₹50 crore ESOP buyback, and nearly 40% of former employees have already participated. Airlearn, our first global product, is gaining meaningful traction in the US, the UK, Germany, and Canada. Our cash reserves as of today are more than $100 million," Munjal's post said, adding that he will be staying back as co-founder and CEO of Unacademy, "with the goal to build great online products for learners in India and globally”.  

Unacademy saw two big rounds of layoffs in 2023 and 2024, with nearly 10% of the remaining workforce being shown the door in both years. After raising its largest funding round of $440 million in 2021 from Temasek, Tiger Global, Softbank Vision Fund and others to take its valuation of $3.5 billion, Unacademy is now valued at less than $500 million.  

Munjal, who believes that a bigger opportunity awaits Unacademy if the deal goes through, sees AI play as a differentiator in the edtech sector. “If and when we do come together, we share upGrad’s belief that ‘The Whole is bigger than the Sum of Parts’ and altogether we will impact students, learners, and working professionals and build great products from K12 to forever learning. The next chapter for education is only beginning,” he wrote in a post on X.