upGrad Acquires Unacademy, Jio IPO Buzz & More

Unacademy Signs The upGrad Deal

After months of talks and discussions, upGrad has finally signed a term sheet to acquire 100% stake in Unacademy in a share swap deal, with Unacademy’s Gaurav Munjal and upGrad’s Ronnie Screwvala both confirming the news on Sunday. 

Munjal will stay on as CEO, and says AI will be central to what comes next for the edtech company, which has gone through some major swings in the past three years. 

The Deal: The acquisition covers Unacademy’s full portfolio, including AI-driven learning platform Airlearn, which Screwvala noted is already gaining global traction. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the share swap structure mirrors upGrad’s recent purchase of internship platform Internshala, reportedly valued around ₹100 Cr.

A Long Way From $3.5 Bn: Unacademy was once valued at $3.5 Bn, backed by Tiger Global, SoftBank, and Peak XV, having raised over $830 million in total. Merger talks with Allen, K-12 Techno Services, and upGrad itself previously fell apart over valuation. 

Munjal has since acknowledged a realistic valuation figure closer to $500 Mn. In recent months, the company bought back ₹50 Cr in ESOPs and announced an exit from its offline centres — both moves pointing toward a leaner, more capital-efficient model.

upGrad’s Consolidation Play: For upGrad, this is its second acquisition in a month and at least the seventh since 2022. The company has also expressed interest in BYJU’S stressed assets, currently under insolvency proceedings. The pattern is clear: upGrad is positioning itself as the dominant consolidator in a sector still recovering from its pandemic-era excess.

Read the full story here as upGrad looks to consolidate the beleaguered edtech sector… 

From The Editor’s Desk

All Decks Cleared For Jio’s IPO

• The Centre has eased minimum shareholding requirements for IPO-bound companies. Under the revised rules, companies with a post-issue capital of more than ₹5 Lakh Cr will be able to offer 2.5% of their shares to the public during listing.
• The norms clear the path for the IPO of Reliance’s digital arm Jio Platforms. Earlier, it was reported that the conglomerate was awaiting the new rules to move ahead with the listing. 
• This comes seven months after Reliance CMD Mukesh Ambani said that Jio would list on the bourses in H1 2026. While the timeline looks highly unlikely, the potential m-cap of Jio Platforms has been estimated to be as high as $170 Bn (around ₹14 Lakh Cr).

Weekly Funding Bounces Back

• Indian startup cumulatively raised $206.5 Mn across 22 deals last week, up 112% jump from a mere $97.6 Mn raised across 11 funding deals in the preceding week. Mozark and Captain Fresh took the biggest cheques home at $40 Mn and $31.4 Mn, respectively.
• Ecommerce topped the sectoral charts, bagging $74 Mn across six deals, while SaaS startups secured $51 Mn last week. 
• Seed-stage funding spiked 95% week-on-week to $11.5 Mn. Meanwhile, Faad Capital and Endiya Partners were the most active investors last week with two deals each.

OfficeBanao Nets ₹34.8 Cr 

• The workspace interiors startup has raised nearly $3.8 Mn in a funding round led by existing backer Lightspeed at a pre-money valuation of ₹522.7 Cr. The funding seems to be a part of a larger ongoing round. 
• The company’s board approved the issuance of 45,472 CCPS at ₹7,654 apiece. The shares were allotted in two tranches, first in December 2025 and then in January this year.
• Founded in 2022, OfficeBanao operates a tech-led platform to offer solutions for creating, maintaining and managing workspaces. The startup claims to have completed over 200 projects across 40 cities so far.

BoldCare’s Mixed FY25 Show

• The sexual wellness brand’s operating revenue surged 2.4X YoY to ₹79.5 Cr in FY25 on the back of growing top line and healthy traction on quick commerce platforms. 
• However, losses also zoomed 202% YoY to ₹58.3 Cr during the fiscal under review, driven by a 2.6X YoY jump in expenses to ₹138.2 Cr. However, the company projects significant improvement in the bottom line in FY26.
• Founded in 2019, Bold Care is a health and wellness startup that sells products like condoms, lubes, chewables and gummies. Backed by actor Ranvir Singh, the startup has raised over $5 Mn so far.

Bloodbath On D-Street

• Amid escalating tensions in West Asia, the total market capitalisation of 54 new-age tech stocks tanked $5 Bn to $115.94 Bn last week.
• Of the 54 startup stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 39 fell in a range of 0.19% to nearly 15%. The remaining 15 gained in a range of 0.09% to 14%. BlueStone was the biggest gainer, while Aequs was the biggest loser.
• Largely to blame for the subdued sentiment was the ongoing war between US-Israel and Iran, rising crude oil prices, concerns over inflation and sell-offs by foreign investors.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Foxo Make Longevity Mainstream?

India is facing a silent epidemic of lifestyle diseases. Traditional healthcare often misses the root causes of such chronic illnesses, leaving patients in a cycle of temporary fixes. Enter Foxo, a longevity platform that uses science to help Indians reclaim their healthspan.

Foxo’s Systems Biology: Founded in 2024, Foxo is a startup focused on proactive longevity. By leveraging systems biology, an approach that views the body as an interconnected network, the startup provides members with a digital twin of their health. 

Using biomarkers, and AI-driven modeling, Foxo identifies early warning signs of chronic diseases and offers hyper-personalised lifestyle interventions to maximise a user’s healthspan.

Mapping A Healthier Future: The platform’s backbone is a multidisciplinary clinical team, comprising genomic scholars and nutritionists, which is supported by AI models like Claude. The tech handles the heavy lifting – analysing food logs and biomarker data – so doctors can focus on hyper-personalised coaching.

Foxo’s Business Model: The startup offers two membership plans. While the flagship tier caters to business executives and runs into Lakhs of Rupees, the ₹10,000 Primer membership slab aims to make longevity science accessible to a broader audience. The company claims to have so far onboarded 50 Flagship members, and plans to accept 100 members in the first Primer cohort. 

Going forward, the startup aims to experiment with different price points and roll out specialised programmes focused on women’s health and cancer survivors. So, can Foxo flip the script from reactive sick-care to proactive longevity?

Infographic Of The Day

AI is increasingly becoming the reason people are losing jobs. From Oracle and Amazon to Livspace and Ola Electric, AI-driven efficiency is accelerating layoffs. Here’s the exhaustive list…

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