Edtech startup Physics Wallah has announced its plan to invest INR 100 crore ($13.5 million) to strengthen its UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) vertical, aiming to cater to 3 lakh aspirants by 2026. The investment will be used to improve the company’s products across both online and offline segments and to create UPSC-related content.
It will also be used for pedagogy development and to hire teachers. The startup currently serves online UPSC aspirants through UPSC Wallah, while the offline vertical is under the ambit of PWOnlyIAS. The company plans to open more than 10 offline centres in cities such as Jaipur, Allahabad, Patna, Lucknow, Indore, and Pune over the next three years.
PWOnlyIAS also plans to launch courses for state public service commission aspirants in online mode. Currently, it offers similar courses for Bihar (in Hindi and Hinglish), Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (in Marathi). PW cofounder and CEO Alakh Pandey said, “After experiencing great success with UPSC Wallah, we saw the need to extend our expertise to the UPSC community through offline centres and to do that we plan to invest INR 100 crore in strengthening our offerings.”
The announcement comes as the company is looking to change its core focus from just JEE and NEET to other courses. This move to focus on the UPSC vertical also comes after the company said it would invest $10 million across multiple tranches to scale up its offline coaching vertical Vidyapeeth School. The startup plans to scale up the initiative to 300 schools across Tier-III and Tier-IV cities and towns by 2025-26.
Despite being one of the few profitable edtech platforms, PW faces challenges such as attrition of star teachers and rising competition from giants such as BYJU’S and Unacademy in the offline space. The company is in talks for a fresh funding round and is looking to raise at least $250 million at a valuation of $3.3 billion. The homegrown edtech space in India is projected to reach a total addressable market size of $29 billion by 2030.
