India’s edtech bust has hit some of the sector’s biggest names. Byju’s, once the country’s most valuable startup, went into insolvency. Unacademy, once valued at about $3.4 billion, was sold to rival upGrad for roughly $200 million in September this year.

UNext Learning took a different path.

Ambrish Sinha built it inside the Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) rather than as a venture-funded startup. Its enterprise-training business is already Ebitda-positive, and the company expects to break even on a consolidated basis by March 2027.

UNext’s edge was never about building a consumer brand, Sinha, the company’s founding chief executive officer, said. Instead, the focus was on creating a capital-efficient technology platform that worked with partner universities while keeping a close watch on the cost of growth.

MEMG has backed UNext with roughly Rs 700 crore to Rs 800 crore internally.

Launched in 2021, UNext has become one of India’s largest online degree and certification providers, with more than 125,000 monthly active learners.

As of March 31, 2026, UNext reported gross bookings of Rs 925 crore and consolidated revenue of more than Rs 580 crore.

Its business-to-consumer (B2C) online business recorded 35 per cent year-on-year revenue growth. The company is projecting growth of about 30 per cent in FY27.

Student enrolments grew 60 per cent year-on-year, while customer acquisition costs declined by about 25-30 per cent.

UNext’s enterprise, or business-to-business (B2B), skilling business serves the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector and has trained and placed more than 250,000 professionals.

The B2C online business is gross-margin positive, and the company expects it to turn Ebitda-positive from FY28.

“We will be breaking even by the end of this year and EBITDA positive next year,” Sinha told Business Standard.

Sinha attributed the company’s relatively capital-efficient growth to three factors: its late entry into edtech, a technology-led business model, and close partnerships with universities and colleges.

UNext focused on providing technology infrastructure to educational institutions rather than building a standalone consumer brand.

This allowed it to leverage institutional brands, lower customer acquisition costs and avoid heavy spending on advertising and marketing.

Sinha said the company also remained conscious of the cost of growth and maintained strong governance standards, supported by its parent.

Sinha was part of Zopper’s founding team as chief business officer. PhonePe later acquired the hyperlocal point-of-sale (POS) platform in 2018.

He also held leadership roles at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, HDFC Life and IndusInd Nippon Life Insurance.

UNext is betting heavily on artificial intelligence (AI).

The company is integrating AI across its learning platform, marketing, content production, product development and workflow automation.

Its in-house learning management system, Lumen, uses AI for doubt resolution, automated quizzes, content summaries and personalised learning paths.

Sinha said AI was reshaping higher education through personalised learning, improved course completion rates and more frequent assessments.

AI also helps students stay engaged and disciplined in online programmes, where learners must manage their own progress.

The company is deploying AI in lead nurturing and voice-based interactions to reduce acquisition costs and match learners with relevant courses.

“Through the use of AI today, we are also able to churn out our content faster, and bring our content up to date quickly,” Sinha said.

He expects AI to change how learners access information, with users increasingly moving from search-based discovery to curated answers.

Sinha said AI would augment rather than compete with education technology platforms.

He expects the impact to be more pronounced in higher education, where students have the maturity to use the technology effectively.

In schools, particularly for children below 10-12 years, social learning, discipline and teacher-led instruction will continue to matter, he said.

There are concerns that AI could hurt the entry-level jobs for which edtech firms train people.

Sinha does not expect AI to eliminate those jobs altogether.

Instead, he expects a reallocation of roles and skills, with some jobs declining while new ones emerge.

Large companies in India are currently using AI largely to optimise processes and reduce costs rather than replace workers entirely, he said.

UNext will remain focused primarily on India.

Rather than pursuing aggressive global expansion, it plans to deepen partnerships with universities, including potential collaborations with foreign institutions.

It also plans to introduce specialised programmes for working professionals.

The company is moving offline into manufacturing, retail and fast-moving consumer goods training centres in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Jaipur.

UNext sees physical training centres and instructor-led programmes as complementary to its digital business.

Its broader ambition is to become a lifelong learning partner across online, offline and hybrid formats.

UNext sees universities as partners and other edtech companies as competitors. Its closer benchmarks include Coursera, upGrad, Great Learning and Simplilearn.

UNext may also evaluate acquisitions.

Its only acquisition so far is Jigsaw Academy.

Sinha said the company would consider opportunities in higher education, technology, content and adjacent business models if they were strategically relevant.

The company does not plan an initial public offering in the near term.

Instead, it is focusing on long-term growth, market-share expansion and innovation.

“We would like to stay private and continue to build on our strengths that we have in the higher education space,” Sinha said.