LIVE: PhysicsWallah IPO opens today – Check GMP, subscription; Anchor book sees 13x oversubscription

PhysicsWallah has raised Rs 1,562.85 crore from 57 anchor investors ahead of its upcoming IPO. The company allotted 14.33 crore equity shares at the upper price band of Rs 109 per share, including a face value of Rs 1.

Out of the total shares allotted, about 7.95 crore shares (55.48%) went to 14 domestic mutual funds across 35 schemes. Major Indian investors included ICICI Prudential MF, Kotak MF, Nippon MF, Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, DSP MF, 360 ONE, Motilal Oswal MF, Tata MF, Bharti AXA MF, Edelweiss MF, and Canara Robeco MF.

The anchor round also saw strong interest from global investors such as Capital Research, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), Fidelity, Franklin Templeton Global, Eastspring Investments, PineBridge, and White Oak Capital.

Physics Wallah’s flagship YouTube channel, Physics Wallah–Alakh Pandey, had roughly 13.7 million subscribers as of July 2025, and the company’s broader YouTube network counted 98.8 million subscribers as of June 2025, growing at a CAGR of 42% over FY23 and FY25.

PhysicsWallah was founded by Alakh Pandey, a popular educator who gained fame for his approachable teaching style on YouTube. Co-founder Prateek Boob helped shape the company’s business strategy and technology backbone.

Both founders will offload a portion of their shares under the OFS.

PhysicsWallah intends to broaden its course portfolio and launch New Education Categories. The company aims to increase its market share in the test preparation space, which is projected to grow substantially. In 2023, the company introduced New Education Categories related to grades 6-12 and forward integration (skill development).

The IPO follows a typical allocation pattern for public offerings in India. Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) are set to get at least 75% of the shares, while non-institutional investors (NIIs) can apply for up to 15%. Retail investors have a 10% quota, and employees of PhysicsWallah have been allocated shares worth up to Rs 70 million. Prior to the public issue, anchor investors were allotted shares on Monday, November 10, setting a benchmark for early institutional demand.

PhysicsWallah was established as a company in 2020 by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Boob. The founders started PhysicsWallah as an effort to increase the accessibility of education at affordable prices by leveraging technology. The goal when establishing the company in 2020 was to make quality education more accessible and affordable. PhysicsWallah initially began operations as a YouTube channel providing free education for students preparing for competitive exams.

The company plans to deploy IPO proceeds primarily for expanding its hybrid learning ecosystem. This includes setting up new offline centers, strengthening its technology infrastructure, and investing in new verticals such as upskilling and test preparation for government exams.

After the Lenskart IPO pricing, a lot of focus is back on the pricing and valuation of IPOs. The PhysicsWallah IPO subscription begins from today and the street is keenly awaiting expert views on the valuation.

Most brokerage reports indicate that the IPO is fairly valued with a ‘Subscribe for long-term’ rating.

Talking about the company’s key financials, SBI Securities, in an IPO note stated that over the last three years, PhysicsWallah has delivered Sales/EBITDA CAGR of 96.9% and 88.8% respectively, while the company’s net loss has widened from Rs 81 crore in FY23 to Rs 216 crore in FY25 due to higher depreciation expenses and impairment losses on financial assets.

“At the upper price band of Rs 109, the issue is valued at an EV/Sales multiple of 9.7x based on the post-issue capital, which seems fairly valued. We maintain a ‘Neutral’ view on the issue and would like to monitor the performance of the company post listing,” it said.

SBI Securities said are of the view that the low pricing only works if volume and low acquisition costs back it up, and here PhysicsWallah’s unit metrics are instructive – PW reported 4.13 million unique transacting online users, with an average collection per online user (ACPU) being Rs 3,682, and Rs 14,040 million of online revenue, which is 48.6% of its FY25 revenue.

The IPO will open for subscription on November 11, and close on November 13. The basis of allotment is expected on November 14, and listing on BSE and NSE is likely on November 18.

The price band for the IPO has been set at Rs 103–Rs 109 per share. Retail investors can bid for a minimum lot of 137 shares, amounting to an investment of Rs 14,933 at the upper price band. For small non-institutional investors (sNII), the minimum application size is 1,918 shares (Rs 2.09 lakh), while big NIIs (bNII) must bid for at least 9,179 shares (Rs 10 lakh).

The company started on a YouTube channel and has grown big enough for an IPO. One of the major ed-tech firms, which is owned by the physics teacher Alakh Pandey, sells its flagship online JEE/NEET courses at a fraction of what its competitors charge. It sells the JEE course for Rs 4,500 against peers’ Rs 75,000–80,000 and NEET for Rs 4,800 vs. peers’ Rs 63,000–67,000, a deliberate low-price, high-reach play.