Unacademy co-founder Hemesh Singh has stepped down from his role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) after about nine years. His departure marks end of an important era for the edtech company. His contribution is well recognized alongside other co-founders – Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini.
He stated that after about a decade of building Unacademy with Gaurav and Roman he has decided to move from an executive role to an advisory role. They have together changed the test prep industry for good.
The journey of Unacademy started modestly as a YouTube channel. It later evolved into a major edtech platform. Munjal shared history of the company and highlighted the strong partnership he had with Singh. Their first venture was 11 years ago with Flatchat. It has been a crazy ride and the team had been grateful to have a co-founder like Singh.
The reason for Singh’s exit has not yet been disclosed. However, a series of high-profile resignations were witnessed in recent past. COO Vivek Sinha stepped down in August 2023 and CFO Subramanian Ramachandran in October 2023.
Unacademy is based in Bengaluru and reported a 41% reduction in net loss for the fiscal year 2023. The losses were narrowed down to Rs 1,678.15 crore from Rs 2,847.93 crore in FY22. Moreover, the revenue rose was by 26% to Rs 907.01 crore. The financial improved lately and it was followed by several rounds of layoffs.
Unacademy last secured a funding of $440 million in August 2021 and it was led by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings. The new capital increased the value of the company. It was then valued at $3.4 billion. However, the strategic realignments have continued and the company is paving the path for future milestones including a potential initial public offering (IPO).
