Edtech firm Up-Grad has called off a deal to acquire Unacademy at a valuation of around $290 million, citing valuation concerns and various business-related challenges within the Temasek and SoftBank-backed start-up, according to sources.
The valuation of Un-academy had touched a peak of $3.4 billion in 2021, which has now dropped by over 90%.
"The company was valued at around $290 million, as per the founders, when the discussion started about the acquisition. UpGrad identified a lot of challenges related to the business of Un-academy, even though the business was acquired at $280 million. Therefore, the deal was called off," sources aware of the development told PTI.
1 January 2026
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A post on social media shows that Un-academy co-founder Gaurav Munjal, in December, had said that the company’s valuation had dropped to one-tenth of its peak valuation.
A related post showed that the valuation of Un-academy was ₹2,650 crore, about $290 million, in December 2025.
When contacted, Up-Grad co-founder Ronnie Screw-vala, in a statement, said, "Yes, we are not proceeding due to valuation differences. While we cannot comment on specific numbers, it is fair to say that we were unable to arrive at a mutually agreeable valuation".
An email query sent to Un-academy did not elicit any reply.
Sources said that UpGrad changed its mind after realising the business of Unacademy is shrinking and there is fierce competition around the offline centre business of the edtech firm, which will require massive investments.
Unacademy's parent firm, Sorting Hat Technologies, has narrowed standalone losses to ₹284.3 crore in 2023-24.
The company had posted a loss of ₹1,591.2 crore in FY23.
The total income of Sorting Hat Technologies dropped marginally to ₹864.3 crore in FY24 from₹868.8 crore in FY23. The company has been recording erosion of net worth in the last two financial years.
The net worth of the company in FY24 reduced to ₹1,078.7 crore from ₹1,189.17 crore in FY23. The company's net worth was ₹2,285.53 crore in FY22.
"There were also high-profile exits from the company (Unacademy), which again triggered fresh alarms for the deal. There were no discussions or negotiations around the valuation, but there were mainly business-related challenges because of which the deal could not go through," according to sources.
