| Physics Wallah Private Limited | |
| Trading Name: | Physics Wallah |
| Type: | Private |
| Founded: | (as a YouTube channel) (as an ed-tech platform) |
| Industry: | Edtech |
| Founders: | Alakh Pandey Prateek Maheshwari |
| Hq Location: | A-13/5, Sector 62 |
| Location City: | Noida |
| Location Country: | India |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Num Locations: | 100+ (August 2023) |
| Subsid: |
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Physics Wallah Private Limited (commonly known as Physics Wallah; or simply PW) is an Indian multinational educational technology company headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The company was founded by Alakh Pandey in 2016 as a YouTube channel aimed at teaching the physics curriculum for the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE). In 2020, Pandey, along with his cofounder Prateek Maheshwari created the Physics Wallah app, which allowed students to access courses related to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Exam (JEE). In June 2022, after raising $100 million during its initial funding round, the company reached a valuation of $1.1 billion, becoming a unicorn company.
In March 2023, several teachers employed by the company alleged that the company had lost sight of its vision and started their own rival company called "Sankalp Bharat". Later the same year, a teacher employed by the company alleged that rival company Adda247 had tried to poach teachers away from Physics Wallah. Sankalp Bharat was later revealed to be a venture of Adda247.
Physics Wallah, or "PW", was founded in 2016 as a YouTube channel hosted by Alakh Pandey, an educator hailing from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. The channel was initially focused on teaching the physics curriculum for the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE), a popular entrance examination in India.[1] Due to Pandey's style of teaching[2] and the introduction of cheap mobile data connections in India during the same time, the channel grew rapidly, reaching over 2 million followers in 2019.[3] In 2020, Pandey along with co-founder Prateek Maheshwari developed the Physics Wallah app. The app was initially designed for students aspiring to take the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)[4] [5] and offered courses similar to those of competing companies at an affordable rate.[6] Over the next few years, Physics Wallah expanded their offerings by launching courses for other competitive exams.[7]
As of January 2023, the Physics Wallah app had been downloaded over 20 million times on the Android Play Store. The Physics Wallah YouTube channel amassed 9.73 million subscribers during the same period.[8] In June 2022, the company became a unicorn company after being valued at over $1.1 billion following its first funding round where it raised $100 million in funding from various venture capital firms.[9] During the same time, PW also launched its first offline center named Vidyapeeth in Kota, Rajasthan.[10] [11] By November 2023, Physics Wallah had expanded to 67 offline centers in 34 cities across India.[12] However, in the same month, Physics Wallah laid off 150 employees, amounting to 0.8% of its workforce, citing performance reasons.
In March 2023, several teachers at the ed-tech company alleged that the vision of the company was being disillusioned and in response started an independent YouTube channel by the name, 'Sankalp Bharat'.[13] Through a video uploaded on the same YouTube channel, they delved into the reasons behind their departure from Physics Wallah, citing the company's atmosphere as the primary factor. Additionally, they alleged that students at the Kota center of Physics Wallah were not receiving an education that justified the tuition fees being charged.[14] [15] Later it was clear to public that Sankalp Bharat is an initiative of Adda247.
In response, a teacher of the company, Pankaj Sijariya, alleged in a video that the three ex-PW teachers – Tarun Kumar, Manish Dubey, and Sarvesh Dixit were offered Rs 50 million each to resign from Physics Wallah and join the rival company, Adda247.[16] The three teachers, in a video claimed that Pankaj Sijairya accused them of accepting bribes from rival platform Adda247.[17] The company has refused to comment on the validity of the claims and in a statement to Business Today called the allegations a "distraction".[18]
In August 2022, Physics Wallah acquired FreeCo, a doubt solving platform and marked it as their first acquisition.[19] [20] [21] Later the same year, PhysicsWallah acquired multiple startups that focused on publishing books aimed at helping students prepare for various competitive exams.[22] Physics Wallah also acquired iNeuron from S. Chand Group during the same time.[23]
A 7-episode web series named Physics Wallah on the life of Alakh Pandey (portrayed by Shreedhar Dubey) and his company was released on 15 December 2022 on Amazon Mini TV. The series was created, directed and produced by Abhishek Dhandharia, under his production house, About Films.[24]