Unacadmey's Founders Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini to Exit, Eye New Venture 'Airlearn'

According to several media reports, Unacademy co-founders Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini intend to leave their operational positions in the next two to three months.

The pair is presently in advanced talks with investors and the board to spin off Unacademy's language learning software, Airlearn, as a distinct business. The offline business is anticipated to be taken over by Sumit Jain, the founder of Graphy, who was promoted to partner at Unacademy following the departure of co-founder Hemesh Singh last year.

The selection of a new leadership team to oversee Unacademy's main online operations is ongoing. According to reports, Munjal formally informed the board of his intention to stand down in March of this year, having been considering doing so since last year.

Restructuring the Entire Operations Team

Munjal has remained on till now because, according to a media report, the board requested that he first lower the company's burn. The offline business will be taken over by co-founder Sumit Jain, according to a succession plan, while Unacademy's online activities will be run by a new leadership team.

After Hemesh Singh left his job as CTO of Unacademy and took an advising role, Jain took over as partner. He co-founded Graphy, Unacademy's SaaS platform for educators and creators, after joining the firm in April 2020.

After Singh left, he was promoted to the board. After the Airlearn spin-off structure is established, Munjal and Saini are anticipated to depart Unacademy. The board has been presented with a plan by the co-founder that would enable him to run Airlearn on his own.

According to a person with knowledge of the discussions, "There is over 90% alignment on the matter, with some final negotiations remaining around equity and structure." It has also been reported that Munjal has granted current Unacademy investors the opportunity to contribute to the new business after the spin-off is completed.

Airlearn Gaining Popularity

Meanwhile, Airlearn is expanding quickly and is thought to be Munjal's next big venture. According to Munjal, who shared the company's update on social media last month, the language-learning software, which competes with Duolingo, has 70,000 daily active users and around 3 lakh monthly users.

It also has 17,500 paying members and generates $2 million in recurring revenue annually. Spanish and French are the most often used languages, and the bulk of their users are from the US and the UK. In FY24, Unacademy's sales dropped 7.4% to INR 839 crore, while its net losses sharply decreased by 62.4% to INR 631 crore.

According to Unacademy's most recent report, the company's main cash burn has decreased from over INR 1,000 crore per year three years ago to less than INR 200 crore this FY25. According to the co-founder, the company is currently in a "default alive" status with INR 1,250 crore in the bank.

He also mentioned that Graphy and PrepLadder, two of Unacademy's enterprises, are making money each month.