Unacademy CMO Karan Shroff quits firm year after being made partner

CEO recently said edtech unicorn may see a funding dry spell for at least 12-18 months and it would cut costs

Karan Shroff, chief marketing officer (CMO) at Unacademy and who was made partner in September 2021, has resigned from the SoftBank-backed edtech unicorn.

Shroff announced his resignation in a LinkedIn post on Thursday, three years after he joined Unacademy as vice president of marketing. “I would like to thank everyone that helped in this chapter of life and I’m extremely grateful to everyone in the industry for their support in helping make Unacademy the brand it is today,” said Shroff. "On that note I will be moving on from Unacademy and onto the next.”

Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Unacademy Group, once said an internal note a partner is a leader and emulates all the characteristics of a co-founder Shroff was named as the first partner at the company in recognition of his contribution in helping build Unacademy into a brand.

Shroff worked as CMO since September 2020, responsible for all marketing efforts. Before joining Unacademy, Shroff led brand marketing at Xiaomi India. Shroff is leaving at a time when Unacademy has been focusing on frugality as its core value. It is focusing on profitability and aims to go public in two years. The founders have taken a salary cut; complimentary meals and snacks across offices have been done away with; and “certain businesses” are being shut down.

Munjal recently said that Unacademy may see a funding dry spell for at least 12-18 months and the company would cut costs to weather the lean period. Earlier this year, the firm laid off more than a thousand employees.

In August, Unacademy raised $440 million in a funding round led by Temasek, with General Atlantic, Tiger Global and Softbank Vision Fund pitching in as other participants. The fundraising took the Unacademy Group’s valuation to $3.44 billion, up from $2 billion in November 2020.