PhysicsWallah: From a bootstrapped YouTube channel to becoming India's 101st unicorn!
EdTech startups are in no short supply in India - at present, there are 9043 EdTech startups operating in the country. From Byju’s to UpGrad, there are 7 EdTech unicorns in the country. However, only one unicorn out of these seven is bootstrapped & actually profitable at an operational level - PhysicsWallah. The latest unicorn in EdTech has shattered all stereotypes to create a profitable, and more importantly, a bootstrap unicorn. This sets PhysicsWallah apart from other unicorns in the Indian startup ecosystem, especially at a time when other high profile startups in India are facing financial turmoil. From a humble YouTube account launched in 2016 to creating an affordable online learning platform & raising $100 million from marquee investors including WestBridge Capital & GSV Ventures at a post money valuation of $1.1 billion, this is the incredible story of the dark horse of the Indian startup ecosystem - PhysicsWallah!
The Circular Economy:
In this episode, Bhavjeet and Anirudh talk about the circular economy & find out some interesting business ideas that are good for the environment as well as the bottom line! Check out the different ideas in the episode:
Our story begins in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, the hometown of PhysicsWallah’s founder, Alakh Pandey. Alakh always had a keen interest in engineering and wished to pursue his engineering education from one of the IITs. However, as luck would have it, Alakh ended up in Harcourt Butler Technical University, Kanpur. In order to help with his family’s financial burden, in 2014, he began teaching JEE/NEET aspirants at local coaching institutes in Kanpur. In 2016, Alakh decided to launch a YouTube channel by the name of PhysicsWallah, with an initial investment of INR 30,000. With just a camera phone, tripod, whiteboard, and a few books, he started teaching physics to Class 11 and 12 students for JEE/NEET examinations. The channel soon started gaining traction -within a year of launch, the channel crossed 10,000 subscribers. By May 2018, the channel had crossed 50,000 subscribers! Buoyed by the success of his YouTube channel, Alakh decided to launch his own app where students could learn not just physics, but chemistry & mathematics as well, and get tests, assignments, and other exam preparation material for JEE/NEET examinations.
However, Alakh lacked the technical knowledge to build this platform. So he decided to start small and launched a basic website where he would share study material, including notes & assignments. He also kept teaching on his YouTube channel, until the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020. The ensuing lockdowns forced the entire education industry to a screeching halt. Sensing the urgency, Alakh decided this was the perfect time to launch his online education app. He teamed up with Prateek Maheshwari, an IIT BHU alumnus who had previously founded startups like Pen Pencil, Night Panda and Moon 2 Noon. Prateek came on board as the CTO & developed the PW app that was launched in May 2020. Alakh used the INR 15 lakh he had earned from YouTube advertising to fund the launch of the PW app. The app proved to be an instant success - it was so popular that it crashed on the very first day as more than 50,000 students had entered a live class on the platform! Within a week of launch, PW app had crossed 3 lakh downloads!
By 2021, the app had 2.1 million downloads. Soon the startup launched 20 offline centers called PW Pathshala primarily across Tier 2 & 3 cities like Jaipur, Kanpur, Ranchi etc. with 400 employees & 6500 students in its first year. By 2022, PhysicsWallah & its other YouTube channels had crossed 10 million subscribers. Today, the PW app has over 5.2 million downloads with more than 500,000 students consuming 1.5 hours of content on the app every single day! While the company has been profitable since inception with positive cash flows and reserves, 2022 proved to be a game changer for PhysicsWallah. The company’s revenue grew nine-fold in FY22! The company’s expected revenue run rate for FY23 stands at $65 million. After being bootstrapped till June 2022, the company raised $100 million from marquee investors like Westbridge Capital & GSV Ventures, valuing the company at a cool $1.1 billion, thus making PhysicsWallah the 101st unicorn of India!