Unacademy’s Chief Executive for the test-preparation business, Sumit Jain, will step down from his full-time operating role effective June 30, ahead of the company’s proposed merger with upGrad, according to an internal memo sent by Unacademy Co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal.
Jain will continue with the company in an advisory capacity after his exit from day-to-day operations, Munjal said in the memo reviewed.
In the note, Munjal credited Jain with building two key businesses within the Unacademy group. He highlighted Jain’s role in scaling creator monetisation platform Graphy, including the acquisition and integration of Spayee, which later became a profitable business vertical for the company.
Munjal also said Jain played a crucial role in improving the economics of Unacademy’s offline business by focusing on profitability and transitioning centres into a franchise-led model.
“Sumit built two strong pillars for Unacademy,” Munjal wrote, adding that the executive helped make the offline business profitable through a sharper focus on unit economics.
Jain joined Unacademy in 2020 after the edtech firm acquired his start-up OpenTalk. Before that, he was cofounder and chief executive of real-estate platform CommonFloor, which was acquired by Quikr.
The development comes as Unacademy and upGrad are in the process of seeking approval for their proposed merger from the Competition Commission of India.
According to reports, upGrad is acquiring Unacademy in a deal valued at around ₹2,055 crore — less than a tenth of Unacademy’s peak private market valuation. The merger is expected to strengthen upGrad’s presence in the online test-preparation segment across categories including UPSC, JEE, NEET and GATE.