SUMMARY
The indigenously built Alakh AI was launched at the end of December 2023
In less than two months, it claims to have secured over 1.5 Mn users
The unicorn is set to mark more than INR 2,000 Cr in revenue in FY24, as it has already surpassed the benchmark as of January 2024
Edtech unicorn Physics Wallah claims to have onboarded more than 1.5 Mn users on its indigenously-built AI education suite Alakh AI, within less than two months of its launch.
The startup, which counts Westbridge and GSV Ventures as among its marquee investors, rolled out Alakh AI in December last year.
Meanwhile, Physics Wallah has launched a series of groundbreaking educational technology initiatives during its flagship event, Vishwas Diwas.
Embracing the theme ‘Padhai Ka Naya Andaaz (A New Era in Education)’, the edtech startup unveiled a host of innovations that promise to make learning more personalised, effective and engaging.
The company’s AI educational suite’s offerings include AI Guru, Sahayak and NCERT Pitara among others.
Let’s take a look at the detailed offerings of the suite :
AI Guru (Personalised Tutor): AI Guru is a 24/7 personal AI tutor and assistant, designed to tailor the learning experience to each student’s unique needs. It accepts doubts in text, image, speech modes and resolves those in real-time.
Sahayak: This facilitates personalised learning for students including adaptive practices, revision and backlog clearance tailored to students’ specific needs. It also offers customised content recommendations such as videos and practice questions are provided to support student’s learning journey.
NCERT Pitara: This feature leverages GenAI to generate questions from NCERT textbooks of various types, such as single choice questions, multiple choice questions, and fill in the blanks.
Community Learning: This supports collaborative learning with batch-specific discussion groups and ‘Battleground’ for live practice sessions with their favourite teachers and batchmates
Increased Accessibility with Low Data mode: PW’s latest features claim to consume as much as 80%-90% less data. This advancement allows students to engage with a larger volume of lectures within the constraints of their existing data packages, effectively maximising their educational intake.
Focused Learning with ‘LearnOS Tapasya Mode’: LearnOS is an Android launcher tailored to minimise digital distractions for students. Designed to prioritise academic focus and productivity, it features a ‘Tapasya Mode’ that allows users to block distracting apps for a chosen duration and enables focused study sessions by keeping away apps which can be distracting.
Alakh Pandey, founder and CEO of Physics Wallah, said, “Padhai Ka Naya Andaaz’ is more than a theme; it is our commitment to provide a learning experience that transcends traditional boundaries, making education more personalised, effective, and engaging for every student.”
Founded in 2016 by Pandey, PW started as a YouTube channel which prepared students for competitive exams. Later, it went on to become a full-fledged edtech startup and added multiple other courses. The startup has been on an expansion spree for the last couple of years. Later, Prateek Maheshwari joined PW as a cofounder in 2020.
Last month, the startup’s cofounder Prateek Maheshwari told Inc42 that it anticipates more than INR 2,000 Cr in revenue in the ongoing financial year 2023-24 (FY24).
Maheshwari revealed that PhysicsWallah has already touched INR 2,000 Cr in revenue as of January 2024.
While Maheshwari did not reveal the net profit for FY24, he said PW’s adjusted EBITDA will be around INR 80 Cr in FY24, from INR 119.6 Cr in FY23.
PhysicsWallah entered the coveted unicorn club in 2022 by raising $100 Mn in its maiden funding round from Westbridge and GSV Ventures. Since then, it has been constantly expanding its offerings by entering the offline space and acquiring multiple startups and companies.
The startup has expanded its offerings to offer post-graduate programmes. It also runs an upskilling platform PW Skills. Earlier this month, the edtech startup ventured into offline education for primary classes with the launch of PW Gurukulam School.
The edtech unicorn also announced an investment of INR 100 Cr to strengthen its UPSC vertical and INR 120 Cr to shore up PW Skills.
PhysicsWallah competes against the likes of BYJU’S, Vedantu, Unacademy, and Allen among others.
