Unacademy co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal announced a ₹50 crore ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) buyback program.
The move is designed to provide much-needed liquidity to the company’s workforce following a turbulent period of restructuring and a significant drop in the startup’s private market valuation.
Payout Structure: Payouts for Employees
According to Munjal’s announcement on X (formerly Twitter), the buyback will benefit a wide range of current and former staff:
- ₹1 Crore+: 8 employees will earn more than ₹1 crore each.
- ₹50 Lakh+: 17 employees will receive more than ₹50 lakh.
- ₹10 Lakh+: 38 employees are set to receive upwards of ₹10 lakh.
- The Rest: The remaining pool will be distributed among other eligible participants who choose to sell their vested options.
Context: Valuation Drop and Strategic Reset
The buyback comes at a critical “reset” moment for the Bengaluru-based edtech firm:
- Valuation Correction: Munjal explicitly thanked the board for carving out this cash pool “even though the valuation is significantly lower than our last fundraise.” Reports suggest Unacademy’s internal valuation has plummeted to approximately ₹2,650 crore (~$230 million), a massive 90% drop from its 2021 peak of $3.4 billion.
- Failed upGrad Merger: The announcement follows the collapse of acquisition talks with upGrad earlier in February 2026. The deal reportedly fell through because both parties could not agree on a final valuation.
- Pivoting to Franchise: Unacademy is currently exiting its asset-heavy, company-owned offline coaching centers and transitioning to a franchise-only model to reduce cash burn and aim for profitability by the end of FY26.
Addressing Previous ESOP Controversy
This buyback is also seen as a gesture of goodwill following a PR crisis in December 2025. At that time, Unacademy had attempted to slash the ESOP exercise window from 10 years to just 30 days—a move that faced severe backlash from former employees and was eventually reversed in early 2024.
“Grateful to the board… we will be reaching out to everyone to participate in this buyback over the next few weeks.” — Gaurav Munjal
Strategic Outlook
With over ₹1,000 crore still in its cash reserves, Unacademy is using this buyback to stabilize employee morale as it doubles down on its profitable online segments, such as its language-learning app AirLearn and subsidiaries like Graphy.
