Edtech Unicorn PhysicsWallah’s Profit Jumps 14X YoY To INR 98 Cr In FY22

Amid the ongoing trouble in the Indian edtech industry, which has impacted giants like BYJU’S, Vedantu, and Unacademy that are saddled with losses, PhysicsWallah reported an over 14X year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit to INR 97.8 Cr in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22) on the back of growing demand for its educational services.

PhysicsWallah, which turned unicorn earlier this year, has been profitable since its inception in 2020. Its profit stood at INR 6.9 Cr in FY21.

The edtech startup, which is focused on competitive exam preparation for NEET and IIT/JEE, reported an over nine-fold increase in operating revenue to INR 232.5 Cr in FY22 from INR 24.6 Cr in FY21. The startup earns a majority of its revenue from the sale of its services, which also includes tuition fees from both online and offline (Pathshala) coaching.

Including its non-operating income, PhysicsWallah’s total revenue in FY22 rose to INR 234.1 Cr as against INR 24.6 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Founded by educator-turned-entrepreneur Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, PhysicsWallah turned unicorn in June this year after raising $100 Mn in its Series A funding round from Westbridge and GSV Ventures. The edtech startup claims to have over 10,000 students who cracked NEET and JEE between 2020 and 2021.

It is pertinent to note that the startup, which was bootstrapped till FY22, managed to sharply increase profitability despite rising expenses.

PhysicsWallah’s total expenses during FY22 jumped 570% to INR 103.2 Cr from INR 15.4 Cr in FY21, with employee benefit expenses contributing the biggest portion at over 40%. 

The edtech unicorn’s employee benefit expenses rose over 21X YoY to INR 42.2 Cr during the reported period as against INR 2 Cr in FY21.

In fact, rising expenses are currently a matter of concern among the edtech majors in the country as they continue to burn cash and report losses. This has also led to layoffs of over 7,000 edtech employees across 15 edtech startups so far in 2022, as per Inc42’s layoff tracker.

Among them, BYJU’S tops the list so far, having laid off over 2,500 employees, followed by Unacademy. Earlier this week, Unacademy announced another round of layoffs which would affect 10% of its workforce.

However, PhysicsWallah is one such edtech startup where layoffs have not been reported so far despite the startup spending INR 38.9 Cr in salaries and wages in FY22, up from INR 1.9 Cr in FY21.

On the other hand, PhysicsWallah also increased its expenditure on advertising and promotion significantly to INR 11 Cr in FY22 from INR 14 Lakh in the previous fiscal year.

It is also pertinent to note that ahead of its Series A round and several subsequent acquisitions that followed, PhysicsWallah’s legal professional charges went up over 45% YoY to INR 16.9 Cr in FY22.

Pandey earlier told Inc42 that his focus was not on revenue but on the student base, which he aims to grow by 4X over 2023.

Just after achieving the unicorn status, PhysicsWallah acquired FreeCo in August. It also completed the acquisitions of two startups PrepOnline and Altis Vortex last month.