PhysicsWallah Targets Over Rs 1,000 Crore Offline Revenue for FY25 with 75 New Centres
- ByStartupStory | October 28, 2024
PhysicsWallah, the popular online coaching platform, has set an ambitious revenue target of Rs 1,050 crore from its offline operations in FY25 as it plans to expand with 75 additional centres across existing and new locations. The move is part of a broader strategy to increase its offline footprint, adding to the 124 centres it currently operates across 94 cities. This expansion will bring the total number of centres to approximately 200, focusing on North India with planned growth into South Indian markets.
Ankit Gupta, Chief Executive of the offline centres division of the WestBridge Capital-backed company, highlighted the growth momentum within the firm’s offline segment. He noted that revenue from the offline business has increased by 52% so far in FY25 compared to the previous year. “We still believe that there is a huge space where we can also set up our physical centres because we want to make education accessible to the entire country,” he told Economic Times.
PhysicsWallah initially launched its offline operations in 2021, contributing around 45% of the company’s total revenue. The company’s consolidated revenue for FY24 was Rs 2,000 crore, marking a 2.5x increase from the previous year. However, the company faced challenges with rising employee costs and provisioning for non-cash expenses, which led to a net profit drop to Rs 16 crore in FY23, down from Rs 98 crore in FY22.
Addressing the motivation behind the firm’s offline expansion, Gupta emphasized the need for accessible education. “Students once had to travel to a few cities like Kota, Lucknow, and Delhi for coaching, incurring high costs beyond just fees. To make quality education more accessible, the idea was to open more centres in smaller towns and cities,” he added.
The company’s offline centres cater primarily to students preparing for engineering and medical entrance exams, competing with major players in the test prep industry such as Byju’s-owned Aakash Institute, Allen Career Institute, and Unacademy. The Covid-driven surge in online learning has seen a slowdown, prompting several edtech companies, including Unacademy, to explore offline expansion as a growth strategy.
To support its growing offline and hybrid models—Vidyapeeth and Pathshala—PhysicsWallah has already invested around Rs 400 crore. Vidyapeeth centres offer tech-enabled, in-person classes, while Pathshala centres provide a hybrid model with an online lesson delivery and an on-site teacher available to address student queries. This year, PhysicsWallah plans to add 30 Pathshala centres and 45 Vidyapeeth centres to further expand in tier II, III, and IV cities. Gupta noted, “The idea behind Pathshala is that in tier III and IV cities, there is not much access to quality education. None of the good offline infrastructure or coaching facilities are available, so we want to make education accessible to those towns as well.”
The Noida-based startup, co-founded by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, has leveraged recent fundraising to fuel its growth plans. In September 2022, the company raised its first institutional round of $100 million at a valuation of $1.1 billion, followed by a $210 million round in September 2024. The founders revealed plans to use the funds to expand their offline network, tap new regions, and explore potential acquisitions.
PhysicsWallah’s offline expansion aligns with trends in the Indian edtech sector, which has seen a slower pace of investment this year compared to last, raising $215 million so far in 2024, down from $321 million in 2023.
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