Former Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has picked up a strategic stake in Unacademy, a Bengaluru-based education tech startup to democratize knowledge and education faster.
He also represents as its brand ambassador, the company said in a statement.
Tendulkar will work with the firm to develop a deeper content-led partnership, the details of which will be disclosed in the ensuing months.
“Over the last couple of months, Sachin decided to come on board as a strategic investor and a brand ambassador for us,” Unacademy Group CEO and Co-Founder Gaurav Munjal said.
He also said that the firm was in talks with Tendulkar for over seven months. “We think that having him on board will also help us achieve our mission, which is to democratize knowledge and education faster,” he said.
Unacademy has more than 47,000 teachers, and it does more than a billion minutes of watch time every month, Munjal said.
Unacademy, however, declined to furnish details of the stake picked up by the star cricketer. However, the firm said Tendulkar would host a series of free live interactive classes for all.
“I feel this is a great opportunity … We want to reach out to billions of people. And the whole idea is to allow them to have this access to talk to me and for me to be able to share my experiences with them,” Tendulkar said.
On February 16, the firm talked about its plan to acquire TapChief, a four-year-old marketplace for gig workers, to help solve problems of students getting access to the best jobs and companies.
Unacademy is now valued at $2 billion, with investors like SoftBank Group, Tiger Global, General Atlantic, and Sequoia Capital.
Its valuation has climbed four times more in the past year alone, in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has given a fillip to online learning.
