Unacademy Co-Founder and CEO of Test Prep Business Sumit Jain Steps Down Amid UpGrad Merger Talks

Unacademy CEO Steps Down Ahead of Proposed Merger with upGrad

Sumit Jain, chief executive officer of Unacademy's test-preparation business, is leaving his full-time operating role ahead of the company's proposed merger with upGrad. According to an internal memo sent by Unacademy cofounder and chief executive Gaurav Munjal, Jain's last working day in a full-time operating capacity will be June 30. Following this, he will continue to work with the company in an advisory role.

Munjal credited Jain with building two major businesses within the group, including Graphy, a growing and profitable business, and the company's offline business, which was made profitable with a focus on unit economics and eventually converted to franchisees. Munjal has known Jain since 2013, when CommonFloor acquired his first company, Flatchat.

Jain joined Unacademy in 2020, after the company acquired his startup OpenTalk. Prior to that, he was cofounder and chief executive of real-estate platform CommonFloor, which was acquired by Quikr. The development comes as Unacademy moves closer to its proposed merger with upGrad.

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The proposed merger, valued at $300-400 million, is expected to strengthen upGrad's presence in the online test-preparation segment, including categories such as UPSC, JEE, NEET, and GATE. Talks between the two companies had been on and off for several months, with discussions briefly stalling earlier this year over valuation differences before negotiations resumed and the companies moved toward signing a term sheet.

The merger is expected to close by the end of June, pending regulatory approvals.