Origin Story
People often second guess your profession by peeking at your friends’ careers. This statement rings true for Hemesh Singh, an engineer and entrepreneur. He got a B.Tech from Allahabad’s Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT). This academic journey introduced him to Gaurav Munjal, an engineering student. Singh graduated from MNNIT in 2013. He set out to establish valuable startups with Munjal and another nerdy friend.
College to Corporate
Singh joined Flatchat in 2014, one year after Munjal launched it. Flatchat is an app that allows flatmates to communicate easily. Singh served the company as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for a year. He left the company, joining Munjal to establish a startup.
Building a Leading Startup
Unacademy is a popular Indian EdTech startup. Hemesh, Munjal, and Roman Saini co-founded it in 2015. The educational platform started as a YouTube channel. It provided programming and computer graphics tutorials. It grew fast, and Munjal decided to scale it with the help of his business-minded friends. Hemesh also serves as the CTO of Unacademy, working for the company for over seven years.
Fundraising and Investments
Unacademy had a $150 million fundraising led by Softbank. This crowned the company as a startup unicorn. In 2021, Unacademy reached a $3.4 billion market valuation via $440 million in funding. Despite getting involved in fundraising, Singh is known to be an astute investor. The engineer has an investment portfolio of EdTech startups and other companies. One such investment is his contribution to the Newton School’s $5 million Series A funding round.
He also invested in Plum, a health insurance startup, which has secured $20.6 million to date. His other investments include Pratilipi, Tread, Tring, and Rheo TV.
Life Outside Work
Hemesh Singh is a member of the Now for Next Leaders Dialogue. The online community drives the discussion on building secure digital ecosystems in India. It’s supported by Google and has many members.
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