Unacademy appoints Kumar as CEO; Munjal takes on chairman’s role | India Business News
Bengaluru: Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Munjal is moving from chief executive to executive chairman, with chief business officer Akhilendra Kumar taking over as CEO, a little over two months after Ronnie Screwvala-led upGrad completed its acquisition of the edtech company.Munjal announced the change on Wednesday, saying he would remain involved in running the company. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay fully involved in operations every day, work alongside Akhilendra and help with the upGrad IPO,” he wrote in a post on X.“Akhilendra is one of the sharpest operators I know, and I’m proud to have him lead us into this next chapter,” he added.The change follows earlier plans for Munjal to continue leading Unacademy within upGrad. When the companies announced a term sheet in March, Screwvala said Munjal would stay at the helm and focus on building online education products.upGrad completed the acquisition on Sept 1, valuing Unacademy at just over $200 million, about 94% below its peak valuation of $3.4 billion in 2021. Under the all-stock transaction, Unacademy shareholders received shares in upGrad.At the time of the acquisition, Munjal had put Unacademy’s revenue at around Rs 400 crore and its bank balance at about Rs 900 crore. Most of its businesses were profitable or close to profitability, he had said, adding that the company could have continued independently.Unacademy had also narrowed its focus to online education, consolidating its offline learning centres with franchise partners as it restructured the business.The acquisition added Unacademy’s online test-preparation business, including courses for exams such as UPSC, JEE, NEET and GATE, to upGrad’s higher education, professional skilling and study-abroad offerings.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com