Edtech platform Unacademy announces ESOP buyback

In an uncharacteristic move, four-year old Bengaluru-based edtech platform Unacademy has announced plans to buy back around 30% of employee stock options (ESOPs) from team members. 

The announcement was first made on Slack, an internal team communications software tool, by co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal last week.

“This gesture is to thank all the team members who believed in us from the beginning,” tweeted Munjal, who co-founded the ed-tech platform in 2015 along with Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh. 

Nothing better than rewarding the Team Members who have been there through the ups and downs. Thank you pic.twitter.com/cqghBx53uY

— Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) July 10, 2019

In June 2019, Sorting Hat Technologies Pvt Ltd, which is the holding company of Unacademy, raised $50 million (around Rs. 346 crore) in a Series D round of funding from Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures. 

Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Partners also participated in an earlier round of funding in July 2018. At the time, Unacademy raised $21 million (around Rs. 144 crore at the time). SAIF Partners had participated in the funding round. 

Last October, Sorting Hat Technologies Pvt Ltd acquired Jaipur-based online education platform WiFi Study. The acquisition would help Unacademy establish its presence in smaller towns and cities where WiFi Study had a foothold, Unacademy had said in a statement.