PhysicsWallah Raises $210 Million in Series B - September 19, 2024

Executive Summary

PhysicsWallah is India's leading affordable edtech platform providing online and offline courses for competitive exam preparation, particularly for engineering and medical entrance exams.

Funding Amount: $210 Million

Valuation: $2.8 Billion

Round Type: Series B

Announced: September 19, 2024

Headquarters: Noida, India

Category: EdTech - Online Education

About PhysicsWallah

PhysicsWallah was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in Noida, India.

PhysicsWallah is India's leading affordable edtech platform providing online and offline courses for competitive exam preparation, particularly for engineering and medical entrance exams.

Funding Round Details

Investment Amount

PhysicsWallah successfully raised $210 Million in this Series B funding round.

Lead Investors & Participants

Hornbill Capital (Lead Investor): Hedge fund formed through partnership between China's Orchid Asia and India's Hornbill, leading the Series B

Lightspeed Venture Partners (Major Investor): Global venture capital firm making significant investment

GSV Ventures (Existing Investor): Education technology focused investor continuing support

WestBridge Capital (Existing Investor): India-focused growth equity firm continuing from previous rounds

Use of Funds

The $210 million (including ~$35M secondary transaction) will support PhysicsWallah's expansion of offline centers (currently 150+ locations), enhance technology platform, develop new courses, and prepare for an IPO targeted at $500 million raise at $5 billion valuation.

Key Metrics & Achievements

• $2.8 billion valuation (2.5x increase from $1.1B unicorn valuation)
• Largest Indian edtech funding since 2022
• $210M was entire Indian edtech funding for Q1-Q3 2024
• 150+ offline learning centers across India
• Third-most valued edtech firm in India
• Preparing for $500M IPO at $5B target valuation
• Founded by YouTube educator Alakh Pandey

Business Model

PhysicsWallah operates a hybrid edtech model combining affordable online courses (typically 10-20% of competitor pricing) with growing offline tutoring centers. The company generates revenue through course subscriptions, test series, study materials, and offline center enrollments. Focus on affordability has driven massive student adoption across India.

Market Opportunity & Competition

PhysicsWallah competes with Unacademy ($3.4B valuation), Eruditus ($3.2B), Byju's (troubled), and traditional coaching institutes. The company has differentiated through founder Alakh Pandey's YouTube popularity (14M+ subscribers), radical affordability, and successful hybrid online-offline model during edtech's challenging funding environment.

This fundraising report was announced on September 19, 2024 and represents verified data from TechCrunch, Crunchbase, Bloomberg, Business Wire, and official company announcements.