Indian edtech unicorn Unacademy has appointed co-founder Sumit Jain as the Chief Executive Officer of its test preparation business, according to Moneycontrol. The move comes four months after co-founder Gaurav Munjal stepped down from his operational responsibilities.
With the earlier exit of co-founder Roman Saini, Jain now stands as the sole executive overseeing Unacademy’s core operations, marking a significant leadership consolidation.
These changes follow a period of internal upheaval. Since 2022, Unacademy has faced operational and financial challenges, including layoffs affecting over 1,300 employees across technology, leadership, and content divisions. Senior leadership exits, including COO Vivek Sinha and CFO Subramaniam Ramachandran in 2023, underscored the company’s structural and strategic recalibrations.
Despite strong backing from investors such as Facebook, Sequoia Capital (now Peak XV Partners), and General Atlantic, Unacademy has not raised fresh capital since its August 2021 funding round. In December 2023, Munjal stated that cash burn had been reduced by 60%, providing the company with a runway of over four years.
In strategic moves, Unacademy has wound down most of its 12 acquisitions from the 2020 edtech boom, focusing on just two or three core ventures, excluding its previous flagship online test prep vertical.
Sumit Jain brings a wealth of experience, having started his career at Pragmatum Training and later working with Oracle India, Opentalk, and Graphy, positioning him to steer Unacademy’s test prep business through its next growth phase.
