PhysicsWallah revenue surges 3.4X to Rs 798 Cr in FY23, remains profitable

Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah has remained profitable in FY23 as it registered a 3.4X jump in its total revenue to Rs 798 crore, according to the financial numbers shared by the Noida-based firm.

The firm’s revenue from operations increased to Rs 771.76 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2023, compared to Rs 232.47 crore in the previous fiscal year and Rs 24.6 crore in FY21, as per the firm’s release.

According to the company, it taught close to 24 lakh students across all exam categories (excluding acquisitions) up from more than 9 lakh students last year. The company saw a major growth in student numbers coming from expansion in multiple new exam categories, skilling, and a surge in offline student enrolments. 

During FY23, the firm reported an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before income, tax, depreciation and amortization) of Rs 127 crore (adjusted for ESOP costs, LER and one-time inventory provisioning), which stood at Rs 134 crore in FY22. 

PW’s co-founder Prateek Maheshwari said, “Our growth was significant both in the online and offline space. Our online categories grew to 2.5x in terms of students headcount from 9 lakh in FY22 to 23.5 lakh in FY23 while our offline student headcount grew to 5.5x touching 60,000 enrolments in FY23…”

Maheshwari added the the firm continued to cement its position in the NEET/JEE space while establishing itself as the topmost player in other categories like UPSC, commerce, Gate, government one-day exam, and skills.

Founded in 2016 by Alakh Pandey and later joined by Maheshwari, PhysicsWallah offers online and offline courses and study materials for JEE, NEET and other engineering entrance and state board exams. The platform provides live classes, video lectures, test series and dynamic exercises for the aforementioned exams.

PW’s total expenses grew to Rs 777 crore in FY23 (including non-cash expenses i.e ESOP, LER & Inventory provisions) from  Rs 103 crore a year earlier. The employee costs grew to Rs 406 crore (including ESOP benefits, which was nil in FY22) from Rs 42 crore last year. 

PW’s founder and CEO Alakh Pandey stated, “...Education uplifts societies and drives economic growth. We will continue to plough back all the free cash flows generated by the business back into it to serve more students - touch more lives - transform more families.”

PW raised $100 million during the financial year 2023 and tied up with eight companies in the said period. It also acquired Xylem Learning, PrepOnline and Altis Vortex since its entry into the unicorn club.

Last month, PW sacked 120-150 employees in what is the first instance of the layoff at the edtech company. As per the company, the layoff was a part of regular assessment performance through mid-term and end-term cycles.