Startup

Due to skipping cash appraisals, Unacademy will shorten the ESOP vesting period by one year

As part of a long list of cost-cutting measures the edtech has implemented over the past 15 months to emphasise profitability in the face of a deepening financing crisis, Munjal, the CEO of Unacademy, had previously stated in February that the company will not be providing cash appraisals to staff for FY24 (2023–24).

SoftBank-backed Unacademy has made the decision to shorten the employee stock option (ESOP) vesting term by one year for all of its employees in an effort to compensate those who won’t be receiving cash appraisals this year.

“For options that vested before August 31, 2024, acceleration will take place, and vesting will be completed right away (or as soon as you reach the 1-year mark). Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO of Unacademy, informed his staff via an internal Slack message that the vesting of the remaining unvested options would be postponed by one year.

“Only those who are currently employed by the company and are not in a notice period are eligible for this. This holds true for Cohesive, Graphy, NextLevel, and Unacademy. Since we have a separate Agreement for it, this does not apply to the founders and management of companies we have bought.

learning
online learning

As part of a long list of cost-cutting measures the edtech has implemented over the past 15 months to emphasise profitability in the face of a deepening financing crisis, Munjal, the CEO of Unacademy, had previously stated in February that the company will not be providing cash appraisals to staff for FY24 (2023–24).

Unacademy has been under intense criticism since the start of 2022 as a result of a number of issues, such as recurring instances of huge layoffs and failing new ventures. According to a previous Moneycontrol story, the company has also been putting a lot of emphasis on profitability and has decreased its monthly burn to a tenth.

Unacademy, which was founded in 2015 by Munjal, Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh, offers an online learning platform for getting ready for different competitive exams. The company has raised $877 million in fundraising so far, and in August 2021, when it raised $440 million from Temasek, General Atlantic, and other investors, its latest valuation was $3.4 billion.

Unacademy, one of India’s largest loss-making startups, reported operational revenue of Rs 719.3 crore and a loss of Rs 2,847.9 crore for FY22 (2021–22).

The firm also expects slower growth in the current fiscal year, which might put pressure on its valuation, particularly because one of its main rivals, PhysicsWallah, is targeting 6x growth this year and is seeking to raise at least $250 million at a valuation of $3.3 billion. The estimated revenue of Rs 1,200 crore that PhysicsWallah is aiming for will be higher than the estimated revenue of Rs 1,100 crore for Unacademy.

Content Protection by DMCA.com

Back to top button