Gaurav Munjal Steps Down As Unacademy CEO; Akhilendra Kumar Takes Over

Gaurav Munjal has stepped down as chief executive of Unacademy, the edtech company he co-founded in 2015. Will move to the role of executive chairman.

Akhilendra Kumar, who has been running operations at the company, takes over as chief executive. Munjal announced the change on LinkedIn on Wednesday, 11 November.

Why the Timing Matters

The move comes a little over ten weeks after upGrad completed its all-stock acquisition of the Unacademy group.

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In that context, a founder moving from chief executive to executive chairman is a standard step. The acquirer needs an operating leader inside the acquired asset. The founder needs a role that keeps him involved without holding the operating seat.

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An executive chairman heads the board and works with the chief executive on strategy. It is a governance role, not a day-to-day one.

What Munjal Said

Munjal was explicit that the change is not an exit. “To be clear, I am not going anywhere,” he wrote. He said he will stay fully involved in operations every day, work alongside Akhilendra and help with the upGrad IPO.

He also backed his successor publicly. Munjal called Akhilendra one of the sharpest operators he knows and said he is proud to have him lead the next chapter. For Unacademy staff, that endorsement was the clearest signal that this is a planned transition.

The Unacademy Story So Far

Unacademy. Munjal co-founded, was set up in 2015 as a YouTube channel for educators and grew into one of India’s largest test-prep platforms.

At its peak, Unacademy was valued at $3.4 billion and counted marquee investors including SoftBank, Tiger Global and General Atlantic. It expanded into offline centres, acquired several smaller edtech companies and built a subscription business around live classes.

For Unacademy, the funding cycle turned in 2022. Edtech demand normalised after the pandemic, capital became expensive. The company cut costs and staff through multiple rounds.

The upGrad acquisition consolidated two of India’s largest upskilling and test-prep brands under one roof.

What Changes for Employees

For Unacademy employees, not much changes on day one. The new chief executive has been inside the business. The strategic direction is set at the upGrad group level.

For Unacademy, the more important question is cultural. Edtech companies built by founder-CEOs tend to run on the founder’s conviction. Moving that decision-making into a group structure changes how quickly product bets get approved.

The edtech market itself has changed. Growth now comes from upskilling and government exam preparation rather than the pandemic-era surge in online school classes.

For Unacademy, that means the next phase is about retention and pricing rather than user acquisition at any cost.

Unacademy’s competitive set has also consolidated. Physics Wallah listed successfully, Allen and Aakash dominate offline test prep. UpGrad brings its own upskilling base.

That leaves Unacademy defending a middle position, which is the hardest place to hold in education.

One practical marker is how quickly the new chief executive appears in public. A quiet transition usually means the group is still setting the plan.

What to Watch

Three things will show how this plays out. The first is the upGrad IPO timeline. Munjal has publicly tied his own role to helping with the listing.

The second is retention of senior leaders at Unacademy, since leadership transitions in acquired companies usually trigger a cluster of exits.

The third is whether the brand continues as a separate consumer product or gets folded into upGrad’s offerings. That decision will say more about the acquisition than any org chart.