Unacademy set to generate profit at group level, says CEO Gaurav Munjal

Edtech unicorn Unacademy has been talking about achieving profitability for the past six months even though the SoftBank-backed company was among the top loss making unicorns list as of FY22.

The company has claimed that it is close to profitability at the group level.

“By the end of this year, we will have 116 months of runway,” said Guarav Munjal, founder and CEO of Unacademy in a note to the internal team via Slack. “Our burn has significantly reduced. In fact we will almost generate profit this month at group level.”

A tight control on overall expenses and shutting down loss making verticals is likely to have helped the company to achieve the milestone.

Unacademy was on an acquisition spree during the 2020-21 period. However, the firm had to fire several employees and halt its new initiatives following the funding winter and layoffs season. However, it remained focused on few new initiatives. Graphy, one of its newest verticals, turned operationally profitable for the month of December 2022, according to the company.

To recall, Unacademy registered an 80.7% surge in its revenue to Rs 719 crore in FY22. Losses of the company increased at the same pace and spiked over 85% to Rs 2,848 crore as compared to Rs 1,537 crore in FY21.

As per Munjal, the company has projected 26% growth in its revenue to Rs 1,250 crore for the ongoing calendar year or CY23. Online test prep will contribute Rs 620 crore in revenue whereas Unacademy Centres and PrepLadder will have collections of around Rs 400 crore and Rs 200 crore respectively, the projection added.

Munjal further disclosed that the firm had Rs 2,100 crore cash balance in the Bank as of March, 2023.

The company’s arch rival Byju’s, which is yet to file its FY22 numbers, reported a whopping Rs 4,500 crore loss in FY21. Out of seven edtech unicorns, only PhysicsWallah reported profit in FY22.