Unacademy CMO Karan Shroff quits firm

Karan Shroff, chief marketing officer (CMO) of edtech firm Unacademy, who was elevated to partner last September, has left the company.

Shroff took to Linkedin to announce his departure after a three-year stint at the edtech startup.

“I will be hanging up my boots at Unacademy. Over three years of memories, tons of awards, a great team that taught me a lot, and a journey that I will always cherish. 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. On that note I will be moving on from Unacademy and onto the next,” he wrote.


Shroff joined Unacademy in September 2019 as vice president of its marketing division.

In response to ET’s queries, Unacademy said Shroff would transition out of his role over the next six months.

“After over three years of building the Unacademy brand, Karan Shroff, partner and CMO of Unacademy has decided to move on. We thank Karan immensely for his contributions towards building Unacademy into one of the most iconic brands of India,” a company spokesperson said.


Shroff’s exit comes at a time when late-stage startups in India are facing a funding winter.

In a note to employees in May, Unacademy cofounder and chief executive Gaurav Munjal said cost-cutting would be the company’s key focus moving forward. In his internal memo to staff, Munjal also told employees that “winter is here” and that funding would remain scarce for at least the next 12 to 18 months.

ET was the first to report on April 7 that the company has laid off around 1,000 employees, including on-roll and contractual staff. These included employees at Unacademy group firm Prepladder, which it acquired in 2020. The group comprises Unacademy, PrepLadder, CodeChef, Graphy and Relevel.

Unacademy is now preparing for the public launch of its new product UnacademyOne in Bengaluru next week.