PhysicsWallah’s revenue jumps 161% to Rs 1,940 crore in FY24, losses widen to Rs 1,130 crore

PhysicsWallah co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Alakh Pandey

IPO-bound edtech startup PhysicsWallah (PW) saw its operating revenue climb 161 percent from Rs 744 crore in FY23 to Rs 1,940 crore in FY24, regulatory filings showed. During the same period, the company’s losses widened more than 13X from Rs 84 crore to Rs 1,130 crore.

To be sure, the company had reported a profit of Rs 9 crore in FY23 under the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) reporting standards. However, the company has now re-adjusted its financials and adopted the India accounting standards (IND AS) reporting standards from previous financial years.

Under IND AS, the company’s losses are higher because of non-cash expenses like Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS), the company spokesperson said. In FY23, PhysicsWallah had a cost of Rs 67 crore towards CCPS and that increased to Rs 756 crore in FY24 which pushed up losses in the previous financial year to Rs 1,130 crore.

The losses come at a time when the company is preparing to go public and has shortlisted bankers such as Axis Capital, Kotak Mahindra Capital, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan for its $500 million IPO, Moneycontrol previously reported.

The work on IPO began shortly after PhysicsWallah raised $210 million on September 20, via a combination of primary and secondary transactions. The capital raise, led by Hornbill Capital, saw participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, as well as existing investors WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures.

Despite challenges in the Indian edtech sector, the valuation of $2.8 billion secured by PhysicsWallah was 2.5 times higher than the earlier valuation of $1.1 bn post its previous funding, reflecting investor confidence in the industry's potential. The firm had mopped up $102 million from WestBridge and GSV Ventures in its debut fund raise.

Noida headquartered PhysicsWallah counts teacher-turned-entrepreneur Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari as co-founders.

The firm has over 55 lakh paid students, 4.6 crore YouTube channel subscribers , 14,000 plus employees and covers at least 105 cities with 2 lakh plus students in offline centres.