In 2016, Alakh Pandey, a 24-year-old engineering dropout from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, turned a ₹5,000 rented room into a classroom for millions. Frustrated by pricey JEE and NEET coaching, he uploaded free physics videos on YouTube, blending Hindi humor with complex concepts. “Education isn’t elite—it’s for everyone,” Pandey told YourStory in 2024. This sparked PhysicsWallah (PW), now a $2.8 billion edtech unicorn, with Pandey and co-founder Prateek Maheshwari’s net worth soaring 223% to ₹14,510 crore each, outranking Shah Rukh Khan on the 2025 Hurun India Rich List.
Born in 1991 to a middle-class family, Pandey excelled academically but dropped out of Harcourt Butler Technical University after failing JEE twice. Tutoring for ₹5,000 monthly, he honed a raw teaching style—think “Arre yaar!” mid-derivation—that clicked with small-town students. By 2017, his YouTube channel hit 100,000 subscribers; by 2019, a million. The 2020 pandemic fueled PW’s rise as locked-down students flocked to free content. With Maheshwari, a fellow educator, Pandey launched the PW app, offering courses at ₹500 against competitors’ ₹1 lakh, targeting NEET, JEE, and boards.
PW’s charm is its relatability. No flashy ads, just Pandey’s energy teaching 4.8 million students, 70% from Tier-2/3 cities. The flagship YouTube channel has 13.7 million subscribers, with 98.8 million across 207 channels (41.8% CAGR FY23-FY25). The app boasts 10 million downloads, 4.13 million transacting users in FY25 (up 153%), and 2.7 million daily actives averaging 111-minute sessions. PW spans 13 categories, from UPSC to commerce, beyond STEM.
Financially, PW is a bootstrap marvel. FY25 revenue jumped 49% to ₹2,887 crore (₹1,404 crore online, ₹1,352 crore offline) from ₹1,941 crore; losses shrank 78% to ₹243 crore from ₹1,131 crore via cost efficiencies. Revenue CAGR: 97% FY23-FY25. A 2024 $210 million Series B (Hornbill, Lightspeed) hit $2.8 billion valuation; May 2025’s WestBridge-led pre-IPO round reached $3.7 billion. September 2025’s DRHP targets a ₹3,820 crore IPO ($530 million)—₹3,100 crore fresh for expansion, ₹720 crore OFS (Pandey/Maheshwari offload ₹360 crore each)—India’s first VC-backed edtech listing.
PW’s offline pivot is bold: from zero to 198 centers across 109 cities by March 2025, via acquisitions like Xylem, Utkarsh, and 40% of Sarrthi IAS (targeting 85% by 2031). Enrollments hit 4.8 million (21% up), with 9.3 lakh NEET, 5.7 lakh JEE. AI-driven personalization and FY25 EBITDA positivity signal strength. FY24’s ₹756 crore non-cash CCPS hit widened losses briefly, but frugality—shunning Byju’s-style splurges—kept PW lean.
Pandey, now a Noida-based family man, donates to Prayagraj schools. His 2022 Amazon MiniTV series Physics Wallah dramatized his grind. Employing 1,000 teachers, PW empowers 4.8 million students in India’s $13 billion edtech sector. As Pandey eyes global AI tutors post-IPO, his dropout-to-billionaire saga—richer than SRK—proves passion trumps pedigree, rewriting dreams one lesson at a time.
Last Updated on Thursday, October 23, 2025 7:20 pm by Entrepreneur Edge Team https://entrepreneuredge.in/
About The Author
