Unacademy Acquires Gate Academy To Broaden Into Engineering Test Prep Category

Unacademy, the edtech unicorn, has acquired Gate Academy for an undisclosed sum to strengthen its position in the GATE exam preparation market. The Gate Academy staff will all join the edtech company as part of the deal.

According to the company, GATE Academy's founder and director Umesh Dhande would join Unacademy as its vice president of academics for GATE and ESE. Unlike The Gate Academy, which fellow unicorn upGrad purchased in November 2020, the entity is distinct from that institution. Unacademy declined to provide any information on the agreement.

In order to increase access for millions of students, the edtech unicorn also announced on Monday that 50 new education channels had been launched. In addition to expanding on current categories, the recently formed YouTube channels would help Unacademy enter into novel learning ideas like direct and indirect taxation, the business claimed during the first Bengaluru edition of its flagship event, "Unacademy One."

A few of the channels are QBank and Life after IIT for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) preparation, NEET ki Neev for the National Eligibility Completion Entrance Test (NEET) preparation, and IAS Icons, a learning platform for those preparing for the competitive tests for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

Additionally, these channels will include staff selection commission, bank, and defence examination preparation. Unacademy claims that each channel will have the best educators selecting and producing top-notch content for students and aspirants across India.

In a statement released on Monday, Vivek Sinha, chief operating officer of Unacademy, said, "With the announcement of launching 50 unique channels, we are strengthening our commitment towards democratising education and presenting a strong content strategy for learners who are seeking knowledge in unique and exciting ways."

The company said that it will soon launch Unacademy Compete, a platform that would let students compete with one another. The launch occurs at a time when funding is scarce for late-stage entrepreneurs in India. Cost-cutting would be the company's main goal going ahead, Unacademy founders and CEO Gaurav Munjal stated in a memo to staff members in May. Additionally, Munjal had informed staff members that "winter is here" and that financing will be limited for at least the ensuing 12 to 18.

Around 1,000 employees, including on-roll and contract workers, had been fired by the company. These included staff members of PrepLadder, a company owned by the Unacademy group that it bought in 2020. Unacademy, PrepLadder, CodeChef, Graphy, and Relevel make up the group. Karan Shroff, the edtech company's chief marketing officer who was promoted to Partner status last September, announced his departure from the organisation earlier this month.