Physics Wallah - YouTube Channel Turned Unicorn Edtech Startup
📄Company Profiles
Technological growth and affordable equipment have devised a new scheme of learning in this modern world. They have refreshed our education system and made learning easy, simple, and interesting. This change in the system seems so quick that, shortly, students might no longer carry books and will have the option to learn from anywhere, anytime.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has turned out to be a trial run for this change. It boosted the process of upgrading in learning. Many EdTech startups have been started in the past couple of years. With perfect execution and quality content, these startups have a bright and secure future.
Physics Wallah (PW) is one of the many startups that flourished during the pandemic. The passion for teaching has pushed the founder to start a YouTube channel that has today become the 101st Unicorn of India. The story of Physics Wallah and its founder, Alakh Pandey, is very inspiring. The valuation of Physics Wallah as of September 2024 is $2.4 billion.
The below article portrays Physics Wallah's success story, its history, journey to becoming one of the top edtech startups in India, its growth, funding, business model, hardships, and how they turned into unicorns despite the challenges.
Physics Wallah: Highlights
| Company Name | Physics Wallah |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Noida, Uttar Pradesh |
| Industry | EdTech |
| Founders | Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Valuation | $2.8 billion (September 2024) |
| Website | pw.live |
Physics Wallah - About
Physics Wallah - Industry
Physics Wallah - Founders and Team
Physics Wallah - Startup Story
Physics Wallah - Mission and Vision
Physics Wallah - Name and Logo
Physics Wallah - Business and Revenue Model
Physics Wallah - Funding and Investors
Physics Wallah - Growth
Physics Wallah - Acquisition
Physics Wallah - Investment
Physics Wallah - Products and Features
Physics Wallah - Layoff
Physics Wallah - Challenges Faced
Physics Wallah - Future Plans
Physics Wallah - About
Physics Wallah is an EdTech startup founded in 2014 by Alakh Pandey. It is an e-learning platform that offers quality learning experiences at an affordable cost. This startup provides lectures and solutions on various subjects for students between classes 6 and 12, including JEE, NEET, and various other entrance exams. Physics Wallah presents both live and scheduled lectures, along with doubt-solving sessions and structured materials, and helps students evaluate themselves through tests.
Started as a YouTube channel, Physics Wallah, as of today, has mentored over 6 million students and has over 13,700 video lectures on its platform. Offering both free and paid batches, Physics Wallah has gained the reputation of lakhs of students through experienced and quality coaching.
Physics Wallah - Industry
The Physics Wallah belongs to the EdTech industry. The EdTech industry’s growth in India can be narrowed down to the past decade. Their growth has been too rapid in recent years. Statistics reveal that between 2014 and 2019, around 4,450 EdTech startups have sprouted in the country. The current size of the EdTech market was valued at $5.13 billion in 2023. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 19% during 2023-2028.
The funding and other investments in these startups have increased 32 times in the past decade. The EdTech industry will replace offline learning in the long run. But experts and VCs say that, for a decade or at least two, the omnichannel way of learning (both online and offline) will hold the crown.
Physics Wallah - Founders and Team
Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari are the founders of Physics Wallah.
Alakh Pandey
Alakh Pandey is the founder and CEO of Physics Wallah. He was born on October 2, 1991, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Pandey has always had a love for teaching since his school days. He wanted to be an IITian but couldn’t clear his entrance exam. Pandey was also a college dropout and started his career as a physics teacher at a coaching institute. He wanted to give the best learning experience to students at an affordable cost.
Kanimozhi Sivakumar
Prateek Maheshwari
Prateek Maheshwari is the co-founder of Physics Wallah. He graduated with a bachelor’s in technology from IIT Varanasi. Before joining hands with Alakh Pandey for PW, Prateek Maheshwari was a founder at NightPanda, Moon2Noon, PenPencil,, and Edu4All. His experience as a founder proved to be a great pillar of support for Physics Wallah.
Physics Wallah - Startup Story
After dropping out of college, Alakh Pandey’s love for teaching pulled him toward a coaching institute in Allahabad. There, he groomed himself as a teacher. His style of teaching received a huge reception, and the physics he taught was loved by everyone. So, with the idea of reaching more students, Alakh Pandey started a YouTube channel named ‘Physics Wallah’ in 2016. This is where the seed for PW was sown and the startup started to germinate.
Arbaz Sayed
Physics Wallah - Mission and Vision
Physics Wallah’s vision is to provide “education for all, regardless of their socio-economic status.” The company wants to provide affordable education for all students. It believes that education has the power to change anything and everything. This is the motto with which Physics Wallah is marching forward.
Physics Wallah - Name and Logo
Alakh Pandey’s popular physics classes were the reason for the name ‘Physics Wallah’. He named his YouTube channel after the said reason in 2016. Later, ‘Physics Wallah’ became his brand identity and stayed as the name of the startup.
Physics Wallah - Business and Revenue Model
Physics Wallah’s business is to offer lectures and train students in various classes,, either online, offline,, or both. It also provides coaching for national-level entrance exams for students.
Paid Courses and subscriptions
Physics Wallah makes revenue from top-rated courses and subscriptions from university students who have subscribed to individualized learning experiences.
YouTube Ads
Physics Wallah makes revenue from YouTube ads.
Advertisement Revenue
Through the use of advertisements on its platform, Physics Wallah makes money.
Products Sales
To make extra money and advertise their business among students, Physics Wallah promotes branded items like T-shirts, sweatshirts, and accessories.
Physics Wallah - Funding and Investors
Established in 2014, Physics Wallah was bootstrapped until 2022 after its inception as a YouTube channel. Alakh Pandey used his revenue from YouTube to register the company and develop the PW app in 2020.
Physics Wallah (PW) secured $210 million in a Series B funding round on 20 September 2024, led by Hornbill Capital, along with Lightspeed Venture Partners, GSV, and WestBridge. This new investment increases PW's post-money valuation to $2.8 billion, marking a 2.5X surge from its previous $1.1 billion valuation when it raised $100 million in its Series A round.
The startup went through Series A funding on June 7, 2022, and received $100 million from Westbridge Capital and GSV Ventures. This maiden funding round made Physics Wallah a unicorn, and its valuation reached $1.1 billion post-funding.
| Date | Stage | Amount | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 2024 | Series B | $210 million | Hornbill Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Westbridge Capital and GSV Ventures |
| June 2022 | Series A | $100 million | Westbridge Capital and GSV Ventures |
Physics Wallah - Growth
Despite a slow start in the first year, Pandey quit his job at the coaching center in 2017 to turn into a full-time YouTuber. The channel started slowly picking up,, and by 2019, it had 2 million subscribers. When the country entered lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for Physics Wallah grew higher and higher.
As a result, Alakh Pandey decided to expand his platform and started an application for online lectures. The startup also provides both offline and online classes for students under the name PW Pathshala. Today, more than 60 lakh students have learned from Physics Wallah. This startup has 16 PW Pathshala centers and 1,500 staff, of which 300 are teachers. It aims at providing the best learning experience for students.
Physics Wallah has forayed into the offline space, according to reports dated June 20, 2022, when it launched its first offline learning center called PW Vidyapeeth in Kota, Rajasthan.
Kota is famous for housing coaching centers for the preparation of medical and engineering students. PhysicsWallah’s offline center is also designed in much the same way and will be enrolling 11th and 12th-grade students who are planning to prepare for their JEE and NEET exams. The unicorn ed-tech startup revealed that the student-teacher ratio of each class will be 125:1.
Physics Wallah now has 10 million plus students, 31300 plus video lectures with 2500 plus mock tests, and 8 lakh plus questions.
Physics Wallah launched the School of Startups, setting INR 100 crore ($11.9 million) fund to back the startups on 22 August 2024. To help budding entrepreneurs turn their ideas into profitable businesses, the initiative offers a wide range of resources, including affordable programs, hands-on training, strategic mentoring, and access to funding.
Aarambh, Prarambh, and Hopes Alive are the three separate programs that PW SOS provides, and they are all designed to help entrepreneurs at different points in their journeys.
Physics Wallah Financials
Physics Wallah (PW) saw its operating revenue grow 2.6 times in FY24, but its losses increased 4.4 times due to higher expenses.
PW’s operating revenue rose to INR 1,940.4 crore in FY24, up from INR 744.3 crore in FY23, according to its financial reports.
Over 90% of this revenue came from educational services, with the rest from product sales. Including INR 74.64 crore from interest and financial gains, PW’s total revenue reached INR 2,015 crore in FY24.
| Physics Wallah Financials | FY23 | FY24 |
|---|---|---|
| Operating Revenue | INR 744.3 crore | INR 1940.4 crore |
| Total Expenses | INR 862 crore | INR 3279 crore |
| Profit/Loss | Loss of INR 84 crore | Loss of INR 375 crore |
PhysicsWallah remained profitable in FY23, with its total revenue jumping 3.4 times to INR 798 crore. The company’s operating revenue grew significantly to INR 771.76 crore for the fiscal year ending March 2023, up from INR 232.47 crore in FY22 and INR 24.6 crore in FY21.
Physics Wallah revenue has increased from INR 233 crore in FY22 to INR 780 crore in FY23.
Physics Wallah - Products and Features
The company has launched various courses to date. The launch of the Physics Wallah Fund on 20 September 2023, was in partnership with a peer-to-peer lending platform, Rang De.
Some of the courses launched are:
| Courses | About |
|---|---|
| Institute of Innovation (PW IOI) | It is a four-year residential computer science and artificial intelligence curriculum launched on July, 31 2023 |
| Offline centre PWOnlyIAS | PW OnlyIAS is for preparing for the UPSC exam and was launched on May 9, 2023 |
| Launches Innovative One-Stop NEET PG/NExT Learning Solution | It's National Eligibility Cumulative Entrance Test--Postgraduate (NEET PG/NExT) preparation with the release of the MedEd app and website. The launch date was in April, 2023. |
| MPSC preparation courses | It helps with the preparation of MPSC Maharashtra Public Service Commission entrance exam and was launched in February, 2023. |
| Launches 50 Vidyapeeth Centers | It is an offline classroom with technology integration that provides comprehensive instruction at a low cost with the best instructors in India and was launched on May, 1, 2023 |
| Launch "Physics Wallah Fund" in partnership with Rang de | The goal of this partnership launch on September, 20,2023 is to address the need for easily accessible and reasonably priced student loans so that students can obtain high-quality, industry-relevant education. |
| Integrated programme for JEE, NEET preparation | This launch is to provide students of tier 3 and tier 4 cities in India for JEE, NEET examination coaching. |
Physics Wallah - Acquisition
Physics Wallah's latest acquisition is Xylem Learning (a test-taking aid that helps you get ready for the NEET UG medical entrance exam) on June 19, 2023.
| Company Name | Date | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Xylem Learning | Jun 19, 2023 | $60.11 million |
| Knowledge Planet | Mar 20, 2023 | - |
| iNeuron.ai | Jan 18, 2023 | $30.057 million |
| PrepOnline | Oct 13, 2022 | - |
| Altis Vortex | Oct 13, 2022 | - |
| FreeCo | Aug 17, 2022 | - |
Physics Wallah - Investment
Physics Wallah invested in one company, iNeuron.ai (a well-known training center for data science, machine learning, and deep learning), on December 22, 2022, with a secondary market funding round for iNeuron.ai.
Physics Wallah - Layoff
On November 19, 2023, PhysicsWallah (PW) announced the first round of layoffs at the edtech startup, terminating between 120 and 150 workers.
Workers from operations, content, and other departments were invited to sporadic meetings without providing a clear explanation. The number of workers affected may even be higher, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous.
Physics Wallah - Challenges Faced
During the launch of the Physics Wallah app in May 2020, the app crashed due to heavy traffic. The sudden hit of more than 2 lakh students into the app created this crash. As the web traffic continued, it took weeks for the technical glitch to be fixed. Alakh Pandey was afraid that the students might feel cheated as they had paid for the classes. But the reputation he had earned over the years made the students trust him and come back once everything was fixed.
The next challenge arose in 2021 when rivals started throwing stones at the company. Unacademy offered Rs 75 crore to Alakh Pandey, which he immediately refused. Then the rivals started poaching the PW staff, and a lot of them left the company within a short period. Then, with the support of students and his never-give-up attitude, Pandey came back strong and took the company to a Unicorn status following Byju’s, Unacademy, Vedantu and a few more in the EdTech industry.
Physics Wallah - Future Plans
Physics Wallah plans to open more offline centers and introduce more courses while also enhancing its online platform. Also, the company plans to expand its content to nine vernacular Indian languages like Gujarati, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and a few more. This would expand the student base of Physics Wallah, which could be estimated at around 250 million by 2025.
Physics Wallah is set to focus on inorganic expansion by entering the K-12 formal education sector, improving its content and publication services, and exploring mergers with community-driven educational platforms across various categories.
FAQs
What is Physics Wallah?
Physics Wallah is an e-learning platform that offers quality lectures and learning experiences for students at an affordable cost.
When was Physics Wallah founded?
Physics Wallah was founded in 2014.
Who are the founders of Physics Wallah?
Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari are the founders of Physics Wallah.
What is the valuation of the Physics Wallah?
PhysicsWallah valuation is $2.8 billion as of September 2024.
Who are the investors in Physics Wallah?
Hornbill Capital, Westbridge Capital, and GSV Ventures are the two investors in the company.
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