PhysicsWallah FY25: Loss Down 78% To INR 243 Cr, Revenue Nears INR 3,000 Cr Mark

In the run up to its IPO, edtech major PhysicsWallah (PW) managed to narrow its consolidated net loss by 78% to INR 243.3 Cr in FY25 from INR 1,131.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year. However, the loss in FY25 was still nearly 3X of INR 84.1 Cr loss it posted in FY23.

The Alakh Pandey-led company’s operating revenue surged 49% to INR 2,886.6 Cr during the year under review from INR 1,940.7 Cr in FY24, as per its updated DRHP. At INR 2,851.2 Cr, the company earned the maximum amount of revenue from India. Its international business grew 61% YoY to INR 35.5 Cr.

Including other income of INR 152.4 Cr, PW’s total income for FY25 stood at INR 3,039.1 Cr.

The edtech major turned EBITDA profitable in FY25, posting an EBITDA of INR 193.2 Cr as against an EBITDA loss of INR 829.4 Cr in FY24. Its EBITDA margin stood at 6.7% as against -42.7% in FY24.

PW filed its updatedDRHP for INR 3,820 Cr IPO yesterday, over a month after receiving SEBI nod for its confidential papers. The proposed public issue will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth INR 3,100 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to INR 720 Cr by cofounders and promoters Alakh Pandey and Prateek Boob (Maheshwari). Investors like WestBridge Capital, Hornbill Capital, GSV Ventures and Lightspeed won’t be offloading their stakes.

PW plans to use about INR 1,000 Cr from the fresh issue proceeds to expand its offline play. In this, INR 460.6 Cr will be used to set up new offline and hybrid centres and INR 548.3 Cr will be utilised to cover lease payments of its already identified centres.

Besides, it also plans to utilise INR 710 Cr for marketing and INR 200.1 Cr to strengthen its tech stack. The remaining amount will be used for future acquisitions and general corporate purposes.

A Deeper Look At PW’s Business Coaching Stack

The company, whose offerings span 13 educational categories, earns majority of its revenue from coaching services.

The operating revenue from coaching stood at INR 2,498.6 Cr in FY25, a jump of 46% from INR 1,715.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The edtech unicorn began its operations as a YouTube channel in 2014, with cofounder Pandey giving physics lessons on the platform for free. Six years down the line, Pandey collaborated with Prateek Boob (Maheshwari) to start PW in 2020, offering test preparation courses for undergrad competitive exams JEE and NEET.

Over the past five years, PW expanded its coaching services to cater to postgrad competitive exams like GATE, UPSC civil services exam, CA, MBA, among others.

PW made a number of acquisitions for this expansion – PrepOnline (test prep for NEET, CUET in 2023), Altis Vortex (exam prep books in 2023), FreeCo (doubt-solving, 2022), iNeuron (AI and data science learning, 2022), and Xylem Learning (hybrid learning, 2023). Most recently, it picked up a 40% stake in UPSC coaching institute Sarrthi IAS at a valuation of around INR 250 Cr.

The total number of students enrolled with PW stood at 48 Lakh at the end of FY25, a jump of 21% from 39.5 Lakh a year ago. JEE and NEET prep attracted the highest number of students for PW at 5.7 Lakh and 9.3 Lakh, respectively, at the end of FY25.

Meanwhile, PW’s offline expansion push over the past few years resulted in it earning almost the same amount of revenue from online and offline channels. While the online channel brought in a revenue of INR 1,404.1 Cr in FY25, the offline channel was not far behind with a revenue of INR 1,351.9 Cr.

PW had 198 offline centres as of March 31, 2025, a jump of 57% from 126 centres at the of the previous fiscal. Of this, 79 were PW Vidyapeeth Centres (for undergrad exams) and 47 were PW Pathshala Centres (hybrid centres for undergrad exams).

The company had 41.3 Lakh online students at the end of the fiscal year, earning INR 3,682.8 per student. It had 3.3 Lakh students for its offline centres, translating to an earning of INR 40,404.6 per student.

Allied Revenue Streams

Besides coaching, PW expanded into student accommodations in FY24 and has been scaling this segment. It earned INR 87.7 Cr from this segment in FY25, an increase of 28% from INR 68.7 Cr in FY24.

The company also has been growing its traded goods revenue stream, which is its earnings from sales of test prep materials and other merchandise. Its revenue from this grew 74% YoY to INR 259.3 Cr.

From its social media channels, which are free to users, the company earned INR 7.9 Cr from ad revenues. This earning grew about 6% from INR 7.5 Cr in the previous fiscal.

Breaking Down PW’s Expenses

Despite the 49% increase in its revenue, PW managed to cut its total expenses by 0.4% to INR 3,264.9 Cr in FY25 from INR 3,279.3 Cr in the previous year due to a sharp decline in its loss due to remeasurement of financial instruments at fair value.

Employee Expenses: PW spent INR 1,401.2 Cr on employees in FY25, up 21% from INR 1,159.2 Cr in FY24. The company employed 5,096 people at the end of FY25, including 4,207 permanent employees and 889 consultants.

Direct Expenses: This expense head, which includes professional fees, support services, printing, rent, test expenses, and more, grew 35% to INR 513.3 Cr from INR 379.6 Cr.

Ad Expenses: Promotional expenses stood at INR 276.2 Cr in FY25, zooming 41% YoY.

Political Party Contributions: The edtech company donated INR 37.1 Lakh to various political parties during the year under review. The contribution to the Communist Party of India was the highest at INR 28.7 Lakh.

Net Loss On Remeasurement Of Financial Instruments At Fair Value: The company’s expense due to remeasurement of CCPS at fair value stood at a mere INR 114.6 Cr during the year under review as against a whopping INR 816.6 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

(Edited by: Vinaykumar Rai)

The post PhysicsWallah FY25: Loss Down 78% To INR 243 Cr, Revenue Nears INR 3,000 Cr Mark appeared first on Inc42 Media.