Edtech platform Unacademy has launched an experience store in New Delhi called ‘Unacademy Store’ even as it plans to go public in two years, co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal said on Friday.
The company, owned and operated by Sorting Hat Technologies Pvt Ltd, plans to open three more stores in Jaipur, Lucknow and Kota, Munjal added but did not disclose how much it would invest in the stores.
According to Munjal, the company is on track to achieve profitability in its core business and will look to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in the next two years.
“In the next couple of years, we definitely want to do an IPO and in the next 12 months, we are eyeing profitability in our core business, which is the test preparation platform, and we are on track to achieve it,” said Munjal.
With the launch of the Unacademy Store, the company aims to market the platform's offerings to learners, it said.
The platform expects its customer acquisition cost to come down with the launch of these experience stores, Munjal added.
Unacademy said it has designed the store to serve as an offline touchpoint for learners who want to experience and browse through the various platform offerings.
The store will help learners stay updated about their chosen career pathways and connect with like-minded people.
The offline stores will also provide on-ground counseling with experts and will enable students to have meetings with top educators, which will provide them a holistic experience at the stores, Unacademy said.
Students can also purchase subscriptions at the store for any chosen goals after counseling and browsing through the content offering.
The Unacademy stores will have on-display devices such as tablets and screens, with content running from the platform, which will help users understand the company’s offerings and subscription models. Students and visitors will also have assistance of on-ground staff.
The stores will also have a counselling area where students can seek guidance and support on available product offerings.
Moreover, the Unacademy store will have a library with reading resources, the company said, along with classrooms where educators may host sessions, the company said.
Munjal further said that the company plans to open more such stores in the country, but will wait to see the response these four stores get from students or visitors.
Unacademy’s move of opening an offline experience store comes at a time when edtech companies are adding offline centres to their offerings with the pandemic situation easing. In February, Byju’s, owned and operated by Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, had said that it will launch about 500 offline tuition centers in India and will invest $200 million for the same.
Aakash Educational Services, owned by Byju’s, is also looking to open 75 new centers this year, VCCircle had reported.
Moreover, competition in the edtech space is rising as the top companies in the similar space across the country are expanding aggressively by adding more offerings to their product range, either organically or inorganically.
Consequently, many edtech firms have raised billions of dollars over the last two years, either through equity or debt. To be sure, India has minted five unicorns or companies with over $1 billion valuation in the edtech space since 2021.
Edtech companies are also looking for IPOs. Just as Unacademy, Vedantu Innovations Pvt Ltd, is also eyeing for an IPO in the next 18 to 24 months, the company’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Vamsi Krishna had told VCCircle in an exclusive interaction in February.
Byju’s, meanwhile, is also reportedly looking to get listed through a SPAC (special purpose acquisition vehicle) in the US.
