Unacademy's Graphy to Acquire Community Platform Build on Scenes in First Acquisition of 2023

Unacademy's Graphy is poised to acquire community platform Build on Scenes, as confirmed by an email sent by Mohammad Usaid, co-founder of Scenes, to its employees. This acquisition marks Unacademy's first move of the year, backed by SoftBank.

Details of the transaction remain undisclosed at this time, but Graphy's founder and CEO Sumit Jain has confirmed the development through Twitter. It's important to note that Unacademy's founders, Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini, are already investors in Build on Scenes.

Build on Scenes raised a pre-series A funding round in May 2021, attracting investment from notable angels and funds. The integration with Graphy will provide Scenes with expanded resources, expertise, and additional benefits such as access to educational content and collaborative opportunities.

Graphy, which became part of the Unacademy group in June 2020, previously acquired Noida-based edtech startup Spayee for $25 million in October 2021. The platform offers users the ability to explore stories, ideas, books, and original content through various mediums such as video, audio, images, and quizzes. Furthermore, Graphy reported operational profitability in December of the same year.

While Unacademy was actively acquiring startups during the 2020-21 period, it acquired only one startup (Gate Academy) in 2022. The company experienced layoffs and halted new initiatives due to funding constraints. In FY22, Unacademy saw a significant revenue surge of 80.7% to Rs 719 crore, accompanied by a rise in losses by over 85% to Rs 2,848 crore. However, the company projects a 26% revenue growth to Rs 1,250 crore for CY23, as stated by Gaurav Munjal.

The acquisition of Build on Scenes by Graphy reflects Unacademy's ongoing commitment to expanding its presence and offerings in the edtech space.