SECTION A
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The traditional approach of instructing students in the classroom is slowly but surely on its road
to becoming obsolete. The traditional methods of learning, such as books and blackboards, are
being phased out in favor of online lessons and examinations. EdTech is an acronym that stands
for "educational technology," which has been increasingly popular over the past decade.
Students of all ages and from all kinds of demographic backgrounds are gravitating toward
online learning platforms.
Many people in India, while having a large population of young people and a great deal of
untapped human potential, do not have access to an adequate education due to a combination of
social, economic, and geographical factors. EdTech firms like Byju's, Toppr, and Unacademy
bring in the possibility for both learners and themselves to grow as part of their business models.
This allows them to overcome all of these problems.
Students at COVID19 had no other choice than to switch to online education platforms in order
to complete their studies, which contributed to the significant rise in popularity of online
education throughout the conference.
As a result of the current state of affairs, the number of EdTech platforms is growing. As a result,
we will make an effort to comprehend the business strategy utilized by Unacademy, which is
currently regarded as one of the most successful EdTech firms.
SECTION B
INTRODUCTION
In 2010, EdTech Platform creator Gaurav Munjal launched a Youtube channel called Unacademy
while still a student at NMIMS in Mumbai. Later, he worked as a software developer for Directi.
He also launched the firm Flat.to, which Common Floor later bought. However, the fundamental
transformation from a Youtube channel to an EdTech company happened in 2015 when Hemesh
Singh, an engineering graduate from Motilal Nehru Institute, and Roman Saini, a medical
graduate who aced the UPSC at age 21, joined the project. Unacademy, which has its
headquarters in Bengaluru, provides millions of students with higher-quality instruction from
knowledgeable teachers, helping to make Unacademy the largest learning platform in India. One
of the businesses transforming the learning approach of students in India from offline to online is
Unacademy, which has a large network of more than 47,000 registered educators and more than
13 million learners.
A learning platform created for competitive exams is called Unacademy.
Many people believe that learning in the classroom prevents them from learning new things. In
addition, many kids are overlooked in this manner, and as a result, due to the lack of attention
and opportunity they receive in a physical class, they ultimately fail to explore the world around
them. In addition, many students in rural areas aren't even aware of the top instructors or the
most recent strategies for passing competitive exams. With the help of the nation's top educators
and its online learning platform, Unacademy decodes these issues. The organization equips the
students to succeed in this cutthroat environment by providing courses and lectures for a variety
of competitive examinations, including CAT, JEE, NEET, CLAT, UPSC CSE/IAS, IBPS/SBI,
RRB, and video classes on numerous disciplines.
Unacademy is an education technology startup founded in 2015. The company began as a
YouTube channel founded by Dheeraj Meena and created by Gaurav Munjal. Later, in 2015, the
company was incorporated as an education corporation in Bengaluru. In September 2020, the
firm joined the Unicorn club after raising $150 million from Softbank and other existing
investors.
UNACADEMY - AN OVERVIEW
With its instructional videos and lectures, Unacademy is an educational platform that makes
teaching and learning simple. It was initially created in 2010 using YouTube videos streaming,
but it wasn't formally launched until 2015. Since its founding, the company has had phenomenal
growth, with more than 10,000 educators and over 13 million users. Unacademy is the largest
distributor of educational content thanks to its numerous platforms, including Unacademy Plus,
as well as other companies' products like Chamomile Tea with Toppers, Wifistudy, The
Solutionists, Unacademy JEE, and Unacademy Studios, with which it receives close to 110
Million views each month. It is simple to access the learning app, which works with Android,
iOS, and Windows.
INDUSTRY
While the market for skill development was assessed to be worth less than $500 million, the
market for kindergarten through 12th grade was valued at $1.16 billion. In India, the edtech
market will be worth $2.8 billion overall in 2020. By 2025, however, when the market for
educational technology is anticipated to be worth $10.4 billion, everything is going to
significantly change. Interesting strategy for creating a high performance culture: accountability
for all parties, modesty, and clear directives. The business today employs over 5000 people, has a
market value of $3.44 billion, and cultivates a vibrant community of technology-driven
self-learners.
Unacademy (translating to Not-Academy) is a learning platform that, in contrast to an institution
or academy that is open to everyone, differs from traditional educational practices. The
company's slogan is "India's largest learning platform."
The goal of Unacademy is to create a huge number of courses for students all around the world
in many languages. Unacademy seeks to work with the best minds, empower India's youth
population—which makes up 19% of the world's youth—to bring themselves into this modern
world by growing its educators with the students. Since there aren't enough top teachers in tier 3
cities, where 70% of its students come from, the firm focuses on expanding its teaching base,
introducing more languages, and expanding the range of exams it offers. According to Karan
Shroff, vice president of marketing at Unacademy, "These interactive lessons will not only give
our learners academic knowledge, but also empower them with outstanding life skills, and help
them improve their ability to face diverse difficulties."
DEVELOPMENT AND INCOME
In 2021, Unacademy has become one of the most prosperous businesses in the Edtech sector. It
has purchased about 12 additional businesses, some of which include CodeChef and Coursavy,
and has been successful in raising a sizeable sum of money through investment rounds. The
company is currently ranked as the second most valuable edtech startup, according to industry
experts.
Unacademy claims that the company's greatest success depends on the students who are able to
pass the most challenging exams. The organisation presently offers preparation for more than 32
different competitive tests, and its main goal is to increase the number of these services it offers
in order to draw in more customers. This edtech business raised $110 million from General
Atlantic and Facebook, giving it a postmoney valuation of $510 million. The company had had
significant investors at the outset of its journey, including Sequoia Capital India and Steadview
Capital, so this was a bonus for it. The SoftBank Vision Fund, Dragoneer Investment Group,
Tiger Global Management, and Temasek Holdings have also invested in the company in recent
years. MS Dhoni, a former captain of the Indian cricket team, reportedly agreed to work with
Unacademy. The agreement is in effect for two years. The business began its marketing
campaigns with an expensive video shoot starring Dhoni. The video is currently in the
postproduction stage and has been edited, but has not yet been made available to the public.
Unacademy has achieved a sizable number of growth benchmarks over its existence. Some of
Unacademy's most remarkable growth accomplishments include the following: On the
Unacademy site, you can prepare for more than 60 different exam kinds. More than 500,000
educators are currently registered on the platform. The business boasts that it is offering more
than a million video lessons. Videos from the education technology unicorn have been seen more
than 315 million times on YouTube. Unacademy's losses grew by 494% in FY21, from Rs 258.6
crore in FY20 to Rs 1,537.4 crore in FY21, according to the financials that were just recently
made public by the Bangalore-based Edtech company. These losses have now been multiplied by
this. The corporation's total expenses climbed by 349 percent in the FY21 fiscal year. The firm in
educational technology also announced a 350% growth in revenue. The company generated total
revenue of Rs. 64.7 crore in the previous fiscal year, which climbed to Rs. 464.53 crore in the
current fiscal year (FY21).
EXPENSES OF UNACADEMY - BROKEN DOWN
According to the expenses sheet, employee perks accounted for the largest (37%) of the
Unacademy expenses. These costs increased by more than 6X in FY21, going from Rs 120 cr to
Rs 748.5 cr in the same fiscal year. The crucial thing to remember is that 83% of the share-based
payments, or Rs 392 crore, would be paid in cash over the following years out of the overall
expenses, which came to about Rs 474.4 crore.
ALLIANCES
Over the course of its existence, Unacademy has been a party to a large number of
collaborations. The following are some of the more prominent ones:
Unacademy and the Backward Classes Welfare Department (BCWD) of the Government of
Telangana have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to discover and empower
worthy students from the state of Telangana and to grant scholarships to those students.
According to the terms of the agreement, Unacademy will be ready to administer a series of
aptitude tests in three stages to the students of Telangana who deserve it. These tests will serve to
prepare the students for college entrance exams as well as government job exams. According to
what was announced by Unacademy on April 6, 2022, about 4500 applicants would be eligible to
receive the benefits of the scholarship programme. One of these benefits is a subscription to
Unacademy Plus. By the end of the year 2021, the edtech unicorn and the government of Odisha
had already reached an agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding for a scholarship
programme that was comparable to the one they were offering.
According to a report that was published in August 2020, the edtech company that is run by
Gaurav Munjal has been selected the official partner of the Indian Premier League for three
seasons of the cricket competition.
Unacademy and TapChief teamed together on January 24, 2017, to better assist students in
locating their first employment after graduation.
The Growth of the Entrepreneurial Scene in India
The Indian startup ecosystem has really taken off and become more popular on its own as a result
of factors such as strong financial backing, among other factors. Read this article to gain further
knowledge.
RESOURCES AND INVESTORS
Unacademy is presently valued at $3.44 billion as a result of the most recent funding round,
known as Series H, which took place on August 1, 2021 and resulted in the company acquiring
$440 million. This round was led by Temasek and was supported by Softbank, Tiger Global, and
other investors.
Unacademy received an early investment of half a million dollars from Blume Ventures in May
of 2016. The most recent sum of money to be received was on August 1st, 2021.
Over the course of 12 different fundraising rounds, Unacademy was able to amass a total of
$838.5 Million in funding.
Unacademy was able to secure money from a number of prestigious organisations, including
General Atlantic, Facebook, Sequoia Capital, Flipkart, Softbank, Nexus, Blume, Tiger Global,
Dragoneer, and Temasek, amongst others. These organisations are leaders in the business and
investing world. In February of 2020, a funding round of this kind took place, and a number of
corporations, including General Atlantic, Facebook, Flipkart, and others, donated close to $110
million. It is unknown how much money Facebook put into the round, although it is thought to
be at least $20 million. Facebook's investment was not published. Unacademy and Facebook
each provided some outstanding responses to the same round of questions.
MERGERS
To strengthen its position in the Edtech Sector, the Facebook-based company Unacademy has
thus far completed the acquisition of 12 different companies. Swiflearn was the last company
that Unacademy bought, and the transaction took place on November 3, 2021. Before the
company was acquired by Graphy on October 11, 2021, it had previously acquired the Edtech
SaaS platform Spayee, which had been backed by Unacademy. Graphy eventually bought the
company.
Since the 18th of October 2021, Unacademy has been engaged in discussions regarding the
acquisition of Swiflearn, a full-stack online platform for academic courses situated in Gurugram.
Swiflearn's primary objective is to provide students with a personalised learning experience.
Swiflearn is an online education platform that was established by Abhinav Agarwal and Anand
Bakode. The platform is geared toward children in grades K–10 and provides both free and paid
educational options. The acquisition agreement was getting close to being finalised at the time,
and according to estimates, it would be valued between $15 and $20 million. Unacademy had
previously promised that its employee stock ownership plan will be the largest in the firm when
it launched its ESOP repurchase plan on September 4, 2021. This promise was made to both the
platform's team members and the teachers who use the platform.
According to Roman Saini, who was also one of the platform's co-founders, the
soon-to-be-completed ESOPs buyback would be the third and largest of its kind. Additionally, he
conveyed his appreciation to the members of Unacademy's employees for their support of the
company's "objective of democratising the educational system "Educators who have worked for
Unacademy for three, four, or five years will be eligible for fully vested stock grants, he
continued, and the company is also unveiling the Teacher Stock Options (TSOPs) for such
individuals. These grants and options will be given to educators who have worked for
Unacademy for three, four, or five years.
In addition, Munjal mentioned that the company now employs more than 300 lecturers who meet
the requirements for the award and who would be given it without delay if they were selected.
Over the course of the next five years, the company will hand out rewards to its teachers with a
combined value of more than forty million dollars.
MODEL FOR BUSINESS AND REVENUE STREAMS
Both business to business and business to consumer models are utilised by Unacademy;
however, the premium memberships are where the majority of the company's revenue is
generated. Freemium is the core business model that Unacademy relies on to generate revenue.
The audience members are not charged for any of the many different services that the company
offers at this location. Customers, however, are required to pay a little fee in order to access
information of a higher quality, if they so want. Unacademy Plus is an extension of Unacademy
that gives students access to free, in-depth video lectures that have been filmed in advance and
are available for viewing online. However, the organisation also offers paid live lessons to help
students in addressing their issues through individualised question clearing sessions and relevant
lectures. These live lessons are provided to students on a pay-per-lesson basis. This is available
to those who have purchased a membership to the "Unacademy Plus" programme.
In May of 2021, Unacademy announced the launch of a brand new platform that they termed
Relevel. This new platform is designed to aid job seekers in obtaining employment within a
period of fifteen days after they have submitted an application for employment. As of the first of
October 2021, the placement rate at Relevel is a perfect 100%, and the membership count is
above 2.35 lakh. The majority of people who are employed in this country come from Tier II and
Tier III cities in the country. Additionally, the veteran job seekers said that by using Unacademy's
recruiting platform, they were able to receive a compensation raise of up to 150% in their new
position.
To far, over sixty-four firms from a wide variety of fields have used the platform provided by
Relevel to conduct interviews with applicants based on the examinations. At the moment, job
seekers may choose to take one of three examinations provided by Relevel: frontend
development, backend development, or business development. The funding of $20 million came
from Unacademy on October 1, 2021, and it was successfully raised by the platform.
The Unacademy Group is quite pleased with the Graphy platform, which serves the purpose of
assisting local creators in increasing the size of their audiences. As a result of it, they may also
market their talents, host live classes depending on cohorts, and engage in a variety of other
activities. On the brand-new platform known as Graphy, which operates as a software as a
service (SaaS), opinion leaders, educators, and subject matter experts from all around the country
are encouraged to participate. On June 22, 2021, the Unacademy's Graphy division announced
the establishment of the Graphy Creator Grant. The purpose of the award is to provide candidates
with assistance in launching their own online school.
channels on Youtube - As we are all aware, Unacademy was first introduced to the world in the
form of a Channel on Youtube. Even though the company has grown substantially since 2010, it
still has its account on the video-sharing website Youtube. The most significant difference is that
rather of managing only one YouTube channel for students in grades 6 through 8, the company
now runs a number of channels for students under titles such as Unacademy JEE, Unacademy
UPSC, and others.
Unacademy is an industry leader when it comes to promoting not just its brand but also the
substance of its courses. It makes use of a wide range of creative advertising methods to promote
the material it publishes. In addition to this, it makes use of lead generation tactics such as
marketing via social media and email, as well as advertisements both on its website and on other
websites, and more.
In-app purchases are another source of significant revenue for Unacademy. These sales generate
a healthy profit for the company. Deals and promotions for live classes, study guides, real-time
practise examinations, quizzes, and other premium material, as well as other types of content, are
frequently posted by the company on its app.
"Unacademy Plus," a service that requires payment to access educational resources, has almost
100,000 paying customers. These premium memberships are Unacademy's principal source of
revenue, thus it makes sense that they would be their focus.
Unacademy gives students access to a wide selection of learning materials that they may use to
assist them in their academic endeavours through its Learning Tools section. In most cases, we
may divide them into two categories:
Videos based on a script. LIVE events Even while the vast majority of pre-recorded
performances may be viewed without charge, live performances typically require payment.
Unacademy made the decision to discontinue operating Mastree, an online resource for teaching
children communication skills, on September 2, 2021, about one year after purchasing the firm.
Unacademy will take on roughly 80% of the workers at Mastree, which translates to 190
individuals out of a total of 240 employed by the firm.
To build a physical presence and expand its offerings beyond test preparation, Unacademy
intends to launch "Unacademy Stores," which will function as offline experience centres. These
stores will be operational sometime in the near future. The company will initially launch its
operations in the Delhi National Capital Region by opening its own own Unacademy Stores.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strength
Unacademy has been able to facilitate easier platform promotion because to the financing it has
received from a number of different companies.
The vast majority of students opt to take their offline coaching classes through Unacademy since
the company offers these classes at incredibly competitive costs.
Unacademy has cornered a substantial share of the education business in India, which they have
successfully dominated. It results in a more cutthroat atmosphere inside Unacademy.
Because it provides access to more than 12000 professors, Unacademy is the learning platform
that the vast majority of students utilize.
Weakness
Unacademy presently has a large gap in this area as a result of the fact that other education
platforms already provide this service from kindergarten all the way through the twelfth grade.
However, at some point in the future, it will also enter this market.
Because there are so many Unacademy instructors available, it might take a significant amount
of time to locate one who is qualified.
The video quality offered by Unacademy is worse than that offered by its primary competitors.
Opportunity
Because the virus has caused lockdowns all around the world, everything has gone online; thus,
this presents an excellent opportunity for Unacademy.
Unacademy might stand to benefit in the long run from the fact that all of the students are
eventually expected to sign up for classes there.
Unacademy is making a slow but steady transition into the K12 education sector so that it will
eventually be able to instruct students in grades 1 through 12.
The educational systems of other countries, including Indonesia's, are slowly but surely
becoming influenced by Unacademy's growing presence.
Threats
In order to compete with Unacademy in the field of education, a number of other platforms such
Byjus, Vedantu, and others have developed in the country of India. As a consequence of this,
there is a possibility that Unacademy will experience failure in the years to come.
Because several components of the Unacademy platform, such as the quality of its videos, are
not being enhanced, it is possible that the company's future success will not be assured.
CONCLUSION
The level of competition between the best online learning platforms in India seems to be growing
more intense with each passing day. The majority of this is due to pupils being quarantined in
their homes since they are unable to leave their homes in a safe manner owing to the outbreak of
the coronavirus.
Two competitors with a comparable market share, BYJU's and Vedantu, are likewise pushing
forward with an aggressive marketing strategy. When you take a closer look, you will discover
that these companies invest a significant amount of money into their digital marketing campaigns
in order to produce leads that, with the assistance of their highly experienced sales staff, they are
guaranteed to turn into long-term customers.
SECTION C
1. What prompted you to choose this topic?
I chose this particular topic as I used to work in a similar Education Technology company
called WhiteHatJr Technologies which comes under BYJU’S as a User Experience
Executive and Teacher Trainer and Recruitment Specialist and Unacademy was our direct
competitor in terms of live classes concept so I naturally felt interesting about analysing a
competitor company
2. How would you have connected the objectives of your topic with the review of literature?
The literature review's purpose is to supply information that may be acquired and utilised
to analyse the ways in which technology is influencing the educational process and the
types of technology currently being employed by schools and students. The ways in
which students and teachers share information, receive feedback, and troubleshoot have
evolved as a result of technological advancements. changing not only how students study
but also how instructors deliver instruction. This review of the research shows how
changes in technology in the classroom have influenced how pupils learn.
Information about students' use of technology and related developments is provided. It
takes into account the many forms of help that educators are getting for this technology,
as well as the positive and negative views that exist on the issue.
Analyzing the research on how useful technology has been in classroom. Technology has
become so integrated into modern life that the vast majority of people cannot function
without it. One place where the majority of people have noticed progress is inside the
classrooms. Through the use of a variety of commonplace tools, students identify the
broad categories of technology based on the human needs that are most commonly met
by these technologies, and they formulate their own definitions of these technologies.
Both educators and students have taken notice of the changes and the ways in which
technology has boosted educational possibilities. From the advent of paper and pencils
through the introduction of overhead projectors and, eventually, the debut of touch
technology, this timeline covers it all.
3. What are the challenges you faced while conducting your term paper data collection?
The first and most difficult stage was selecting a reliable edtech company in India, as
there are numerous options. It was difficult to locate relevant details, especially those
pertaining to money and property. After the data was filtered and fitted as needed for the
study, it was extremely challenging to format it.
4. How can you relate objectives of your study with conclusion through the SWOT
analysis?
As per Unacademy's SWOT analysis, the company's strengths and opportunities, notably
the company's reputation and client loyalty, provide it a strategic advantage over its
threats and weaknesses. However, it is in the company's best interest to put in place
effective management practises and eliminate any potential threats it may face in order to
remedy the aforementioned problems.
5. How would you bridge the gap in your term paper and industry practice?
A curriculum that is in line with what employers want: Given the constantly shifting
nature of industry and the labour market, it is imperative to identify how the academic
curriculum can successfully adapt to the diverse needs and requirements of the dynamic
industry. Despite the fact that practically every profession is evolving quickly, college
curricula may be inflexible and difficult to adapt. The curriculum needs to be established
and altered often to satisfy market demands. putting emphasis on skill-based
learning.Two-thirds of millennials want to be managers within the first three years of
their employment. However, India's management programmes are not exempt from the
country's higher education institutions' pervasive lack of practical training. Management
schools must change their emphasis from the acquisition of academic information to the
development of practical skills in order to provide a more relevant and interesting
education. Students have the chance to get work experience through interactions with
companies, practical projects, and internships: Students are exposed to the business in a
structured and carefully scheduled manner, giving them the opportunity to gain important
experience. Student-run part-time or internship programmes may give students insightful
knowledge of the business world and how things really function. Improvements to the
Teaching Staff: Focusing just on the curriculum's framework is insufficient; instructors
also require the proper training and background. It might be difficult to communicate
pertinent knowledge because the majority of teachers lack real-world experience in the
subjects they teach. It would be wonderful if faculty members could frequently work
alongside subject-matter experts on quick industrial assignments. Students may be sure
that their teachers are up to date on the latest advancements in the business sector in this
way.