PhysicsWallah, the edtech unicorn, raised $210 million in Series B funding from new investors: Hornbill Capital, an India-focused hedge fund, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, a venture capital firm. Existing investors GSV Ventures and WestBridge also participated.
With the offline expansion and listing plans in the pipeline, the new funding round takes the valuation of the edtech major to $2.8 billion, that is, 2.5 times what it was worth two years ago.
The proceeds will add to its offline presence and diversify into new geographies-the company will even look at acquiring entities, says Prateek Maheshwari, co-founder of PhysicsWallah.
"We are adequately capitalized from our house cash generation. The proceeds will drive expansion and innovation within the company. We want to have the treasury for any inorganic growth opportunity that comes our way," said Maheshwari.
The Edtech giant is forging new verticals and is investing in inorganic growth opportunities. The New capital infusion is expected to fuel further growth of the company.
So far, Physics Wallah has incurred approximately Rs 400 crore on its offline and hybrid centers Vidyapeeth and Pathshala.
"We are likely to invest another Rs 70 to 100 crore in capital expenditure in the next fiscal," Maheshwari said.
The company plans to open 50 centers next year and enter cities like Nashik, Pune, Dehradun, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, and Chennai, among others.
Offline expansion will be one of the key themes for the company while it looks at expanding its presence in numerous other test prep and coaching sectors.
"We are doing as many as 34 test prep and the horizontal expansion into UPSC, CA is starting to show growth," he said.
For PhysicsWallah, 55 per cent of its business comes through its online business and the remaining through offline centers. Its standalone operating revenue more than tripled to ₹772 crore in FY23, largely on the back of expansion in the offline space. The company is yet to be filed with the RoC.
The business grew 2.5 times in FY24 versus FY23 and has "the revenue being 2.5 times more than last year, but this year is a year of sustainability". It expects fiscal year ending March 2025 to be the most profitable EBITDA ever".
On the listing plans, he said, "We will discuss it with our partners. The public markets are exciting and the window of opportunity is going to be there for the next couple of years.
The funding has come at a time when the edtech industry of India is facing severe headwinds. That was valued at $22 billion once, Byju's saw an exceptional downturn as it now faces the prospect of bankruptcy proceedings.
"We believe education is a responsibility and our students are our priority. We take this with the uttermost sincerity and responsibility," he said.
Founded by Alakh Pandey and Maheshwari, Physics Wallah turned into a unicorn in the year 2022 after raising the first round of $100 million funding from Westbridge and GSV. So far, the company has acquired six other startups - FreeCo, iNeuron, Only IAS, and Utkarsh Classes.
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