Unacademy launches offline classes to take on Byju's-owned Aakash Institute

• Unacademy announced its foray into the offline learning space with the launch of its upcoming Unacademy Centers.
• The first Unacademy Center will be operational in Kota by next month.
• Unacademy is one of the highest valued edtech companies in India, second only to Byju’s.

Edtech major Unacademy is going offline by launching Unacademy Centers across nine cities. This is the second online edtech major to choose this route after Byju’s-owned Aakash Institute. Like Aakash, Unacademy would also focus on NEET UG, IIT JEE and foundation courses for IX to XII grade students.

It intends to open its first Unacademy center next month in the country’s coaching class hub Kota, Rajasthan. The company plans to launch more of them in Jaipur, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Patna, Pune and Delhi. It hopes to enroll up to 15,000 learners in its first batch across centers.

“Our experiential touchpoints - Unacademy World have seen tremendous response from learners, many of whom have also expressed the need for in-person learning from the best educators,” Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Unacademy Group, said.

Unacademy is the second most valued edtech companies in India after Byju’s

Unacademy is one of the highest valued edtech companies in India, second only to Byju’s. The company has raised over $800 million till date from marquee investors like Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal, Oyo’s Ritesh Agarwal, Tiger Global, Mirae Asset, General Atlantic and others. The company was valued at $3.4 billion in August 2021.

In March this year, the company had started reaching out to students and their parents via a touchpoint in New Delhi. It was designed and defined as an experience center for learners who can browse through the platform’s offerings.

Unacademy’s decision to venture into offline space comes as it looks to turn profitable by the end of this year. The company has also laid off close to 600 employees — about 10% of its total workforce — in March 2022.

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