Unacademy to exit offline centres, shift to franchise model, founder Gaurav Munjal tells employees

“We will exit in the coming months by converting our company-operated headquarters business into franchise partnerships,” Munjal said in a Jan. 14 email to employees. Mint reviewed a copy of the email.

He added that the company’s franchise model works with local operators, running operations, and showcases Unacademy’s academics, technology and reach. “It’s asset light, capital efficient and aligned with who we are. Once this transition is complete, by April, Unacademy will have one of the healthiest cost structures in the industry,” Munjal said.

The shift comes after edtech firms spent the past five years prioritizing profitability and reining in growth as funds dried up. As the covid-induced online learning boom fades from 2022, Unacademy has expanded into offline hubs to sustain growth. This latest move signals the company’s renewed push to return to its online-first model and focus on digital business.

“Unacademy will be an online-first company going forward. Just like we started in 2015,” a company spokesperson said. mint questions.

escape from Airlearn

Unacademy has been on the block for over a year, with founders Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini exploring ways to break free from fast-growing AI language learning vertical Airlearn; The company was struggling to reset after education technology slowed post-pandemic and turned to offline test preparation.

A person with direct knowledge of the development told Mint that Munjal and Saini will continue at the company and their plans to leave Airlearn have been cancelled.

Sumit Jain, who will run Unacademy as its offline test preparation business, will continue as CEO of the vertical. “There are no changes as test preparation still has many verticals like Unacademy, PrepLadder, franchisees and other businesses. Jain will continue as CEO of Test Prep, while Munjal will remain as Group CEO,” the person cited above added.

This comes after upGrad’s potential acquisition of the company, seen as one of the biggest consolidation moves in India’s edtech sector, collapsed earlier this month.

Many discussions over the past two years regarding the sale of Unacademy, including talks with other edtech players, have failed because valuation expectations were not in line with market reality.

In November last year, upGrad proposed a share swap deal that was expected to value Unacademy at $300-400 million, a significant drop from its $3.4 billion valuation during the 2021 funding boom. Backed by SoftBank, Temasek, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Peak XV Partners, Unacademy has raised approximately $880 million since its founding.

In the email, Munjal said the burn had subsided after a long period of time and the burn was roughly reduced. ₹200 crore by 2024, the company plans to focus on growth again.

He added that the company has seen many verticals become profitable. “UPSC, NEET PG, CAT and many other sectors turned contribution margin positive. PrepLadder and Graphy were cash flow positive for the entire year. Airlearn grew from ~$200k ARR at the beginning of 2025 to almost $3 million ARR by year-end.”

Munjal said CY2026 is not about survival but growth. “Unacademy has always been outstanding at one thing: building great online learning products… When we do it well at scale, business works. Economics works. Impact works. So we go back to our strengths,” he added.

Unacademy’s revenue dropped 16% year over year ₹826.2 crore in FY25 ₹Although its net loss narrowed to ₹ 988.5 crore in fiscal 2024 ₹435.4 crore onwards ₹631 crore in the same period.

The company competes in the core coaching business with hybrid players like Physics Wallah, Allen and Aakash, among others.