Gaurav Munjal steps down as CEO of Unacademy, while Kunal Shah announces WhatsApp development plans

Co-founder of Unacademy, Gaurav Munjal, is stepping down from the position of CEO to take on the role of Executive Chairman. Ahilendra Kumar will replace him as CEO.

This management change occurred two months after upGrad completed the acquisition of Unacademy for slightly over $200 million.

In a post on LinkedIn, Munjal emphasized that he is not leaving the company entirely but will participate daily in operational activities, work alongside Ahilendra, and assist with upGrad's IPO process.

Kumar's appointment is an internal promotion within the Unacademy structure. From 2022 to 2025, he held positions such as AVP - Business, VP - Business, and Chief Business Officer. Prior to this, he worked at OYO in roles related to operations and supply chains.

Addressing employees and teachers of the platform, Kumar noted that all of Unacademy's achievements were made possible by the staff and educators who help students daily. He also stated that the company's focus will remain on learning outcomes and business sustainability.

Unacademy was founded as a YouTube channel in 2010 and transformed into an educational technology platform in 2015. During the pandemic, the company expanded rapidly amid a sharp rise in demand for online learning. However, the resumption of classroom activities and the decline in online demand forced the company to conduct cost optimization and restructuring.

In September, upGrad acquired Unacademy through a share exchange deal, valuing the company at approximately 1,955 crore rupees, which is about 94% below its peak valuation in 2021. The combination was approved by the Indian Competition Commission in July.

This deal merges Unacademy's verticals, such as test preparation, content creation, and language learning, with upGrad's operations in higher education, overseas study, careers, and corporate training.

Munjal's mention of upGrad's IPO carries a broader significance. Under Ronnie Screwvala's leadership, upGrad is working towards a planned stock listing in 2027, integrating a larger and more diversified EdTech business.

In fiscal year 26, upGrad's consolidated operating revenue reached 1,687 crore rupees, and EBITDA grew more than eightfold to 123 crore rupees. Meanwhile, the net consolidated loss for this fiscal year decreased to approximately 131 crore rupees.

Overall, the EdTech sector is also undergoing a period of correction. According to Tracxn, EdTech funding in the first eight months of 2026 was approximately 95% lower than the 2021 peak, and the number of funding rounds dropped from 368 to 36. Between 2021 and 2026, the sector registered 94 acquisitions and seven public listings, including the listing of PhysicsWallah in November 2025 following an IPO worth 3,480 crore rupees.

Meanwhile, government oversight in the sector is intensifying. Central directives require transparency regarding tuition fees, courses, and provided amenities, and the consumer protection regulator has warned educational institutions against making misleading claims of success and guarantees.

WhatsApp is preparing to move beyond simple messaging, aiming to make communication more expressive, integrate everyday financial transactions into the app, and utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to perform practical tasks. WhatsApp's global head, Kunal Shah, outlined these priorities in a post on the social network X, more than four months after he took over from Will Cathcart.

Shah noted that the application will evolve alongside users' changing habits regarding voice notes, groups, stickers, and videos. WhatsApp has over three billion users worldwide, with India being its largest market, where over 500 million users are registered. According to Shah, users send over 10 billion voice messages and 4 billion stickers daily, and the platform processes over 100 billion messages and 2 billion calls.

Kunal Shah stated that the company's goal is to make all user actions in WhatsApp as simple as sending a message. The second objective is to simplify performing daily tasks directly within the chat. The company is collaborating with partners in the financial services and telecommunications sectors to reduce the number of steps required for bill payments, loan applications, and staying connected while traveling.

This expansion process is already underway in India. In April, WhatsApp began offering prepaid mobile top-ups for Jio, Airtel, and Vi operators, and in September, it announced the phased implementation of bill payments through Bharat Connect—a network connecting service providers with payment providers. Meta reported that this service will provide access to 22,722 service providers across 30 categories, including electricity, water, insurance payments, and loan repayments. In October, the UPI system processed approximately 254.7 billion transactions, demonstrating the scale of the digital payments market.

The third direction is AI. Shah believes that AI should help users find necessary information, manage routine tasks, and prevent missing appointments or meetings, although he did not disclose details or timelines for new consumer features. In May, Meta launched Business AI for eligible small businesses in India, allowing them to automate responses, suggest products, and handle appointment bookings in local Indian languages. Furthermore, the company announced the upcoming integration of UPI payments within AI-supported chats.

Similar trends are observed in the broader industry context. In May, Google and Apple began beta testing end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging between compatible Android and iPhone devices. Meanwhile, Reuters reported in September that NPCI is developing a registry to verify AI agents making payments via UPI, raising questions about user consent and accountability when software acts on behalf of a client.

Trust remains critically important. Shah emphasized that personal calls and messages will retain end-to-end encryption. He wrote: 'Trust is earned over years and lost in a moment, and I take this very seriously.' As WhatsApp adds financial and AI services, it needs to explain how payment information and automated functions are handled alongside private conversations. Shah concluded: 'The best technology saves your time so you can get back to important connections.'

WhatsApp has released a major update for millions of users, focusing on enhancing the functionality of group chats. It is now possible to pin important messages without time limits. Additionally, users can share statuses separately for members of specific groups. New capabilities for viewing old messages and filtering notifications have also been added.

WhatsApp has implemented four new tools for group chats. These changes are aimed at solving problems for users who belong to many groups—whether they are family, friends, or work-related. Often, critically important information gets lost among a large volume of messages, and new members can find it difficult to understand the flow of previous discussions.

When important information appears in a group chat—such as a wedding address in a family group, a meeting link in an office group, or a travel plan in a friends' group—it is quickly overlooked due to the stream of new messages. To solve this problem, WhatsApp has added a new option for pinning messages. Previously, users had to choose timeframes for pinning (24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days), after which the message required re-pinning.

Now, a pinned message will remain displayed at the top of the group until the user manually deletes it. This eliminates the need for participants to constantly scroll through old parts of the chat to find necessary information.

The second useful feature is designed for those who join a group later. Typically, a new member is unaware of the previous discussion history and must ask other group members for information or request screenshots. WhatsApp has eliminated this difficulty. Now, if a person joins a group, other members can share the history of recent messages with them by tapping on that member's name in the chat.

It is important to note that using this feature no longer requires removing and re-adding the new member to the group, as was previously the case. Previously, the chat history sharing option was only available at the moment of addition.

The third innovation may change how WhatsApp is used. Until now, users could share their status with specific contacts or privacy lists. However, sometimes it is necessary to show a photo or video only to a small circle of people within a specific group, without showing it to family or colleagues. The new Group Status feature simplifies this process.

Users can now publish a status specifically for members of a certain group. All members of that group will see the status, be able to react to it, and also share their own statuses. This group status will function similarly to a regular WhatsApp status and will automatically disappear after 24 hours. The advantage of this feature is that the user does not have to change privacy settings every time for different updates.

The fourth feature is particularly useful for those who actively participate in many groups simultaneously. In the constant stream of messages, it is easy to miss a notification when you are mentioned or when someone replies to your previous message. Later, searching for such messages in the general chat history becomes difficult. WhatsApp solved this problem by introducing a new filter called 'Mentions and Replies'.

Thanks to this filter, users can view individual chats where they have been mentioned or replied to. This filter will also display messages sent via @all. Thus, if someone in the group mentions all participants to convey important information, it becomes easier to find. This is especially beneficial for those who are active in work, family, public, and friends' groups simultaneously, allowing them to focus directly on messages relevant to their interests instead of reading the entire dialogue.

These four new features are available for both Android and iPhone.