India Gets Its Second Edtech Unicorn As Unacademy Joins The Prestigious Club Founded in 2015, Unacademy started as a YouTube channel before launching its own platform and a mobile app
By Debarghya Sil •
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In yet another instance of an Indian edtech startup reaching new highs, Bangalore-based Unacademy entered the coveted Unicorn Club after raising $150 million in a round led by Softbank. The fresh funding valued the edtech player at $1.45 billion. Existing investors such as General Atlantic, Sequoia India, Nexus, Facebook and Blue, too, participated in the round.
Unacademy Group has raised $150M in a round led by Softbank valuing us at $1.45B post the funding. Great to have them onboard as a partner in our journey.
— Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) September 2, 2020
Our existing investors General Atlantic, Sequoia India, Nexus, Facebook and Blume also participated in the round.
Confirming the development in a tweet, Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and chief executive officer of Unacademy, wrote: "Our goal always has been to democratise knowledge and make it more affordable and accessible by getting the best experts of the world to help everyone achieve their goals."
Our goal always has been to democratise knowledge and make it more affordable and accessible by getting the best experts of the world help everyone achieve their goals.
— Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) September 2, 2020
He thanked his team members, educators, and learners for supporting them to build something "iconic'.
The startup has also become the official partner of the popular T20 tournament Indian Premier League for three seasons.
The startup became Unicorn almost two years after its rival Byju's led by Byju Raveendran joined the prestigious club. Byju's is currently the most valued edtech startup in the world with an estimated valuation of $10.5 billion after it raised a fresh round of funding in June.
Founded in 2015, Unacademy started as a YouTube channel before launching its own platform and a mobile app. The platform currently has more than 1 million videos from over 10,000 educators across the country. Its app now has over 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store.
Unacademy in the past couple of months recorded a 100 per cent increase in its paid subscriber base. The company witnessed a 100 per cent steep growth in the daily average watch time across platforms.
In 2018, Unacademy acquired WiFiStudy, an online learning platform on YouTube for an undisclosed amount and said that both were cash-and-stock deals.
Earlier this year, the Bengaluru-based firm bagged $110 million from Facebook and General Atlantic and others, and later went on to acquire Kreatryx and CodeChef as part of its inorganic growth strategy.
