Edtech platform PW, also known as Physics Wallah, has raised $100 million in a Series A funding round at a valuation of $1.1 billion. The funding was led by UK-based Westbridge and GSV Ventures, a global VC fund focused on digital education. The startup plans to infuse raised capital to expand its business, open more learning centres, and introduce more courses.
With the current round, PW has earned India’s 101st unicorn badge and joins as the 7th EdTech unicorn after BYJU’S, Unacademy, Emeritus, Upgrade, Vedantu and LEAD.
Founded in 2016 by Alakh Pandey and later joined by Prateek Maheshwari, Physics Wallah helps students prepare for engineering and medical entrance exams by providing online and offline courses, and study materials for other engineering entrance and state board exams. It includes live classes, video lectures, test series and dynamic exercises for the above exams.
PW has a team of 1,900 employees including 500 teachers as well as 200 associate professors. It has 20 offline coaching classrooms across 18 cities in India, with more than 10,000 students enrolled for 2022-2023 session. On the Google Play Store, the PW app has 5.2 million downloads, while the YouTube channel has 6.9 million subscribers.
“Since inception, we have focused on delivering high-quality education with affordability at the forefront, ensuring that learners from all walks of life can continue their higher education and boost their career trajectory without any hassles,” said Alakh Pandey, Founder and CEO of PW. “PW has been profitable since its inception and has positive cash flows and reserves. In FY22, the startup’s revenue rose nine-fold, claimed Alakh. The current run rate for FY23 is $65 million”, he added.
The startup is set to open 20 new centers across India as well as launch its educational content in nine local languages including Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Odia, Malayalam and Kannada. In addition, it aims to connect over 250 million students to the platform by 2025.
“PW creates long-tail value for learners by delivering high-quality education at a democratic price. PW is one of the rare startups with a profound understanding of the education that BHARAT today needs,” said Sandeep Singhal, Managing Director of WestBridge Capital.
