Physics Wallah enjoys a rosy IPO day, bucking the broader slowdown in Indian edtech

Indian edtech startup Physics Wallah ended its first day as a public company on a high, with its shares closing 44% higher than they were listed for, indicating that the country’s edtech sector may still recover after years of gloom.

Priced at ₹109, the company’s shares climbed as high as ₹161.99 before closing at ₹156.49, valuing it at ₹448 billion (around $5 billion). That’s well above its listing valuation of ₹315 billion (approximately $3.6 billion), and roughly 79% higher than its last private valuation of $2.8 billion in September 2024.

Physics Wallah raised ₹34.8 billion (around $393 million) in the IPO. Of this, ₹31 billion (approximately $350.1 million) was through a fresh issue of shares, while ₹3.8 billion (roughly $42.9 million) worth of shares were sold by co-founders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Boob, who together held about 80% of the company before the listing.

The strong IPO highlights the company’s remarkable growth arc since its humble beginnings as a YouTube channel run by Pandey in 2016. It now stands out in an industry otherwise reeling from layoffs, a funding drought, and the unraveling of once-high-flying rival Byju’s. Today, the company offers test-preparation and upskilling courses via its website, apps, and offline centers.

The company’s rise comes as its larger rivals struggle to operate. Byju’s, once India’s most valuable startup at $22 billion, was engulfed in a corporate-governance crisis, has been fighting legal battles with lenders, and is dealing with a severe cash crunch that has forced mass layoffs. The Bengaluru-based startup is currently undergoing insolvency proceedings in both India and the U.S.

Unacademy, another high-profile edtech, has also sharply scaled back operations and cut staff, and is reported to be in talks to be acquired by upskilling platform UpGrad for $300 to $400 million — a steep decline from its $3.44 billion valuation in 2021.

In the financial year 2025, Physics Wallah said its revenue increased 49% to ₹28.9 billion (approximately $326 million) from a year earlier, while its net loss narrowed to ₹2.4 billion (roughly $27.5 million) from ₹11.31 billion (about $127.7 million). Online channels accounted for 48.6% of operating revenue, while offline centers contributed 46.8%. The company also reported a 4.5 million paying subscribers, a 23% increase from last year.

“It’s a good milestone to have the IPO coming our way,” said Pandey during the company’s IPO ceremony in Mumbai. “But the mission and vision are a lot to be left to be completed.”

Physics Wallah plans to deploy most of its IPO proceeds into expanding its offline centers, strengthening its technology stack, and funding potential acquisitions. The company has already aggressively expanded its offline footprint and currently operates 303 centers across 152 cities in India and the Middle East as of June 2025, up from 182 last year.