PhysicsWallah Acquires K-12 Edtech Startup Knowledge Planet

Wealthtech Platform Nivesh Acquires Wealthzi

SUMMARY

With this acquisition, PhysicsWallah is planning to expand across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region by 2024

The edtech unicorn would also invest in the newly acquired K-12 startup

The development has come at a time when various Indian edtech giants such as BYJU’S, Unacademy, and upGrad have forayed into the Middle East region to serve the Indian diaspora

Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah has reportedly acquired UAE-based, K-12 online learning platform Knowledge Planet for an undisclosed sum.

With this acquisition, PhysicsWallah is planning to expand across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region by 2024. Further, the edtech unicorn would also invest in the newly acquired startup, YourStory reported.

As part of the deal, Knowledge Planet’s founders will continue to lead the startup and scale its operations in the GCC region.

The development has come at a time when various Indian edtech giants such as BYJU’S, Unacademy, and upGrad have expanded operations to the Middle East region and are serving the rising Indian diaspora there.

Founded in 2020 by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, PhysicsWallah, helps students prepare for competitive exams such as NEET, JEE, GATE, UPSC, and CDS, among others.

Of late, the edtech unicorn inked a long-term joint venture (JV) with the online learning platform Utkarsh Classes to concertedly scale operations and offerings.

Earlier, Alakh Pandey-led PhysicsWallah earned some bad press when a video of a tussle between its offline staff member and its student circulated widely on the internet. The incident took place in PhysicsWallah’s Kota offline centre.

Further, in late 2022, it bought a nearly 19.5% stake in an online learning platform iNeuron for an undisclosed sum.

In the financial year 2022 (FY22), the startup clocked a growth of over 14X year-on-year (YoY) in its net profit to INR 97.8 Cr whereas its operating revenue grew by 9X to INR 232.5 Cr.

Founded by Monika Oli and Sachin Bharti Gupta in 2011, Knowledge Planet offers offline and online classes to K-12 students. It also offers test preparation classes for JEE and NEET exams to NRI (non-resident Indians) students.

The Dubai-based startup is currently operating more than 12 offices in the UAE region. It claims to have delivered services to over 2500 students annually, as per its website.

The acquisition information has come at a time when Indian edtech startups are struggling for sustenance. Cash crunch, market inflation, the opening of schools and colleges and investors’ low confidence are some issues impacting the startups.

Owing to this, many edtech unicorns such as BYJU’S, Unacademy, Vedantu and PhysicsWallah have pivoted their models in the last two years and entered the offline market.

Add to that, edtech startups lately restructured their operations, business models and sales strategies in a bid to trim costs. While adopting cost-cutting strategies, such startups too have laid off more than 8200 employees since January 2022, according to Inc42 layoff tracker.

During the same timeframe, edtech startups–DUX Education, Crejo and Udayy ceased their operations permanently.

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