Edtech firm Unacademy names CBO Akhilendra Kumar CEO as Gaurav Munjal turns chairman

Unacademy co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal is moving to the role of Executive Chairman. Chief business officer Akhilendra Kumar is set to take over as chief executive.

Announcing the transition in a post on X, Munjal said he would remain actively involved in day-to-day operations and work alongside Kumar. He also said he would help with the upGrad IPO. Kumar has been with Unacademy for nearly five years.

The change comes nearly two months after upGrad completed its acquisition of Unacademy in September 2026, in an all-stock deal valued at just over $200 million. That was a steep decline from Unacademy’s peak valuation of around $3.4 billion in 2021.

The acquisition gives upGrad, which runs higher education, upskilling and study abroad businesses, an entry into the online test preparation segment, including UPSC, JEE, NEET and GATE, while adding Unacademy’s educator network. At the time of the deal, Munjal said Unacademy had a topline of around Rs 400 crore, with most of its businesses either profitable or near profitable, and around Rs 900 crore in the bank.

Following the acquisition, upGrad is consolidating the operations of Unacademy and its businesses. PrepLadder’s headquarters has moved from Chandigarh to Bengaluru, and Unacademy, PrepLadder, Airlearn and Graphy will all operate from Bengaluru going forward.