Physicswallah is the only EdTech unicorn in India that is profitable. In the previous fiscal year, the company had a revenue of 780 crore rupees, which is 300% higher than the figures for the fiscal year 2022 (233 crore rupees). The company aims to achieve a revenue target of 2,500 crore rupees for the current fiscal year.
Last year, they raised 10 crore dollars (9,000 crore rupees) at a valuation of 1.1 billion dollars, making them the 101st unicorn company. The company was founded by Alakh Pandey, an engineering dropout and a former tuition teacher and YouTuber.
Pandey started his business career with a similar-named YouTube channel. He started the channel in 2014. Years later, an EdTech company tried to buy out his popularity and offered him a salary of 40 crore rupees per year. Surprising everyone, he declined the offer. The office was provided by Unacademy. He established his firm under the name PhysicsWallah. The company’s revenue grew by 900% in the year 2021-2022.
Alakh Pandey was a student of engineering at a top college in Kanpur, but he dropped out in the third year. He enrolled in a software coaching institute in Allahabad. His first teaching job was at a coaching institute in Allahabad, where he was born. His first salary was 5,000 rupees.
He adopted a unique teaching style to attract students to his coaching institute. He emphasized teaching with a touch of humour. In an interview with Forbes, he once said that a teacher should not only be good in their subject but also should be energetic, funny, satirical, and strict. Students started liking his lively way of teaching. He started his YouTube channel in 2016.
He started gaining popularity in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. He also began motivating students. Some criticized his methods, but he continued with his approach. His YouTube channel became a huge hit. In 2019, his followers grew from 4,000 to 2.2 million. In 2020, he co-founded a company with his partner Prateek Maheshwari. They launched an annual preparation package for Class 12 students at a price of 999 rupees. The mobile application crashed.
By 2020, Pandey had 4.2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. A competitor offered him a 75 crore rupees deal for a 10% stake. He declined it. Then he attempted to lure his teachers by offering them salaries worth crores of rupees.
Several star teachers left the company. He introduced low-cost content, a strategy that proved successful. In June 2022, he raised 10 crore dollars (750 crore rupees) at a valuation of 1.1 billion dollars. Now it is the only profitable unicorn in the EdTech space.
Pandey’s early life was full of challenges. He started taking tuition classes in 8th grade. His father, a contractor, had sold their house and invested the money in businesses that later failed. He couldn’t crack the IIT exam because he couldn’t afford proper preparation due to financial constraints. According to the Hurun report, the total wealth of Alakh Pandey and his co-founder Prateek Maheshwari was 4,000 crore rupees each.
