You started on YouTube, and PhysicsWallah is now going for an IPO. You have also entered the billionaire club.
I felt immense pride, especially in the first two to three years, when I began gaining recognition and could make my parents proud despite coming from humble beginnings. But after a point, it doesn’t matter. It can be $1 billion or $4 billion — it's all the same. Everyone has a success metric, and for me it was buying a house. I bought one in Allahabad in 2020. Now, everything is normal. It’s more about responsibility, as we have 18,000 employees and 120 million students studying online. I still feel there is a lot more to do because, overall, we have taught very few students. We have around 4 million paid students. It's a big number in the edtech space, but the country has 300 million students, and there is a long way to go.
Is it India’s first edtech IPO?
If you see in the edtech category, then yes.
You have said that you have enough cash. Why are you raising money then and that too via IPO?
We have raised $210 million in five years and have close to $280-300 million in our treasury. We have more cash in our treasury than we have raised, as we are generating cash from operations.
About going for an IPO, I think we have set a good example in education. We provide affordable education, unlike previous players who targeted India's top 3-5 per cent. It’s a good story, and I want to list this company when it is in this growth phase so that public market and retail investors get returns.
Second, if I keep raising private equity, I will have to give returns. This is contradictory because none of my investors are selling.
Third, I think the company will be more disciplined. There is already a lot of governance, but of course there will be more governance.
Fourth, we know students like us a lot, but the branding will be good in the parent community. The trust of people in public companies is higher.
PhysicsWallah’s investors are not offloading stakes. What kind of dilution will we see on the promoters' side?
Till now, Prateek (Prateek Boob, cofounder and whole-time director) and I have held close to 80-81 per cent of the company. After total dilution, we will reach close to 71-72 per cent. We have investors, but no one is diluting.
What’s your long-term strategy? Will PhysicsWallah continue to focus on test preparations or diversify to full-stack education and upskilling?
Anywhere where education is required, we are there. Whether it is Classes 6 to 12 or competitive exam preparation, we want to teach all the students. There is a lot of tagging in the education space, such as K-12, K-10, edtech, or test prep. Overall, it is education, and it's simple for us. We will give students an online course where they can prepare for any exam. It will be affordable because of the volume of students who will join it.
But if you look at revenue, a majority of it is from test preparation. However, the bigger places where there can be more impact are board exams of Class 9-12, where students need affordable courses.
What will be your top three focus areas going ahead?
First, in IIT or NEET exams, from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, around 25-30 per cent of students are studying with us. But in other states like Odisha, Gujarat, Kerala, and Karnataka, the penetration will be less than 10 per cent. I want affordable, quality learning to reach these states.
Second, we have started new categories like UPSC, CA, and MBA preparation. We need to produce results here as they are in their initial phase.
Third, I see a lot of potential in the Class 9-12 segment, where students prepare for school and board exams.
 "Alakh Pandey, Whole Time Director and Chief Executive Officer, PhyscisWallah Limited")