Unacademy rolls out Rs 50 crore ESOP buyback; 8 employees to become crorepati

Edtech company Unacademy has launched a Rs 50 crore employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) buyback programme to provide liquidity to employees.

Announcing the development on X, co-founder and Group CEO Gaurav Munjal said the company’s board had approved carving out a cash pool for employees even though the valuation is “significantly lower than our last fundraise”.

“Grateful to the board for carving out a cash pool for the employees, even though the valuation is significantly lower than our last fundraise,” Munjal wrote.

Unacademy has initiated the process of doing an ESOPs Buyback of 50 crores.

Grateful to the Board for carving out a Cash Pool for the Employees even though the Valuation is significantly less than our last Fundraise.

8 people are making more than 1 crore in this Buyback. 17…

— Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) February 27, 2026

According to him, eight employees will earn over Rs 1 crore each through the buyback. Seventeen employees will receive more than Rs 50 lakh, and 38 employees to make over Rs 10 lakh from the exercise.

Notably, the company will reach out to eligible employees in the coming weeks.

The announcement comes months after Unacademy faced criticism for reducing the ESOP exercise window. In response to the backlash, Munjal had clarified the company’s position on exercise terms and valuation. Unacademy subsequently introduced a one-time 30-day window for former employees to exercise their vested stock options.

At the time, the company cautioned employees that its current valuation is lower than previous funding rounds and that preference shareholders would have priority over equity holders in any distribution of proceeds.

The buyback also coincides with a broader strategic reset at Unacademy. The edtech sector, which saw rapid expansion during the pandemic-led surge in online learning, has since faced slowing growth, funding constraints and pressure on profitability.

As part of its restructuring, Unacademy recently announced plans to move away from company-operated offline learning centres and adopt a franchise-based model. The shift is aimed at reducing fixed costs and improving unit economics.

The company has also explored consolidation opportunities. In December last year, Munjal confirmed that Unacademy was in discussions regarding a potential acquisition. It later emerged that the talks were with upGrad. However, the proposed transaction did not materialise, with the two sides failing to reach agreement on valuation terms.