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Edtech major upGrad is in the final stages of acquiring edtech rival Unacademy in a transaction valued at ₹1,955 Cr, with the signing process almost complete, as per sources familiar with the amalgamation deal. 

A senior executive aware of the development told Inc42, on the condition of anonymity, that almost all institutional investors have signed the share subscription agreement (SSA), while all angel investors have signed the share purchase agreement (SPA). The deal is expected to close within the next three weeks.

As part of the transaction, Unacademy cofounder and CEO Gaurav Munjal will continue to lead the startup after the acquisition.

Language learning platform Airlearn, which was incubated within Unacademy, will also be included in the transaction and become part of upGrad following the deal.

Notably, ahead of the acquisition, Unacademy completed an ESOP exercise worth ₹45 Cr. Around 1,000 of the company’s 1,100 former employees participated in the exercise, the executive added.

Following the acquisition, Unacademy, PrepLadder, Airlearn and Graphy are expected to operate from Bengaluru.

The deal will also give Unacademy investors one seat on UpGrad’s board, the people cited above said.

Economic Times reported the development first.

The report further adds that Unacademy’s investors will receive one seat on UpGrad’s board as part of the edtechs’ merger. 

The acquisition marks one of the biggest consolidation moves in India’s edtech sector in recent years, as startups continue to look for scale and operational efficiencies amid a prolonged funding slowdown. It also comes after years of intense competition between upGrad and Unacademy across multiple online learning segments.

The deal, which was first announced in April, is structured as an all-stock transaction and will see upGrad enter the K-12 and test preparation segment through Unacademy, while also strengthening its presence across online education.

Earlier, Inc42 reported that Unacademy was expected to have ₹900-950 Cr in cash on its books when the transaction closes. upGrad had also internally estimated that the acquisition would add around ₹500 Cr to its consolidated revenue.

The acquisition extends upGrad’s inorganic growth strategy. The Ronnie Screwvala-led edtech startup has acquired more than half a dozen companies since 2022, including careers and internships platform Internshala earlier this year.

The transaction also underlines how sharply valuations in India’s edtech sector have corrected since the pandemic boom. Founded in 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh, Unacademy raised about $830 Mn from investors including Peak XV Partners, Blume Ventures and Elevation Capital, reaching a peak valuation of $3.4 Bn in 2021.

However, the company has spent the past few years restructuring its business amid slowing demand across the edtech sector. It exited several offline initiatives, focused on improving capital efficiency and undertook ESOP buybacks as it looked to preserve cash.

For upGrad, the acquisition comes as the company pushes for profitable growth. 

The startup recently reported a provisional PAT of ₹38 Cr on revenue of ₹1,532 Cr in the first 11 months of FY26 and had projected FY26 revenue of about ₹1,972 Cr with PAT exceeding ₹60 Cr.

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