In the lead-up to its IPO, PhysicsWallah (PW) cofounders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Boob (also known as Prateek Maheshwari) lapped up INR 201.3 Cr apiece from secondary transactions.

The edtech major’s updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP) revealed that both the cofounders sold 2.5 Lakh shares at INR 2,511 apiece to PW’s existing investor GSV Ventures in September 2024, netting INR 62.8 Cr each. In the subsequent month, they sold 5.5 Lakh equity shares each at INR 2,517.4 apiece to VC firm Hornbill Ventures, raking in another INR 138.5 Cr each.

Despite the secondary sale, the cofounders cumulatively hold over 80% stake in PW pre-IPO. Pandey and Boob have 40.35% stake each in the company.

The third largest stakeholder in the company is PE firm WestBridge, one of its oldest investors, with 6.4% equity or 16.7 Lakh equity shares. Its affiliate entity Setu AIF Trust owns another 1.39% stake (3.6 Lakh equity shares) in the company.

Hornbill Capital, which led the company’s $210 Mn Series B funding round in September last year, holds 4.42% stake (11.5 Lakh equity shares), while GSV Ventures’ shareholding in PW stands at 1.79% (4.7 Lakh equity shares). VC firm Lightspeed, which partook in the Series B round, holds 4.7 Lakh equity shares (1.79% stake) in the company.

PW is looking to become India’s first listed edtech startup following its INR 3,820 Cr IPO. On September 6 (Saturday), it filed its DRHP with the SEBIfor the public issue that will comprise a fresh issue of up to INR 3,100 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to INR 720 Cr.

Started in 2014 as a YouTube channel by Pandey, PW was formally launched in 2020 with Boob, who ran an edtech SaaS company PenPencil since 2017. This venture merged with PW in the fiscal year FY22. To note, the edtech major recorded an impairment of investment of INR 39 Cr in PenPencil in FY25.

Besides, the company operates a plethora of other subsidiaries including Utkarsh Classes (government exam prep), iNeuron (professional tech courses) , Knowledge Planet (K9-12 tuition center), FreeCo (doubt-solving) and Xylem ( NEEt and JEE prep school). It also acquired a minority interest in Sheryians coding school in FY25 and bought a 40% stake in IAS prep edtech startup Sarrthi IAS in August.

On the back of the acquisitions it has made between FY23-FY25, the edtech company has been able to establish a balance between the revenue it generates from its offline vertical and online vertical. While the online channel brought in a revenue of INR 1,404.1 Cr in FY25, the offline channel was not far behind with a revenue of INR 1,351.9 Cr.

To note, the company is able to generate more revenue per student via its offline vertical. In the fiscal year, it earned INR 3,682.8 per student from 41.3 Lakh online registrations and earned INR 40,404.6 per student from 3.3 Lakh enrollments for its offline centres.

Given the lucrative scope of its offline vertical, the company is looking to utilise INR 1,000 Cr from the fresh issue proceeds to expand its offline play. In this, INR 460.6 Cr will be used to set up new offline and hybrid centres and INR 548.3 Cr will be utilised to cover lease payments of its already identified centres.

With that, let’s take a detailed look at PW’s board of directors and C-suite.

Cofounder Pandey is a whole-time director and the CEO of PW. In his executive role, he is responsible for “providing strategic direction, setting governance standards and overall business decision making in the company. He received remuneration of INR 3.2 Cr in FY25.

While Boob is a cofounder and whole-time director of the company, he doesn’t hold an executive position. The company said that he is responsible for “directing strategies and innovation planning”. His salary for FY25 stood at INR 1.3 Cr.

Former Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer Deepak Amitabh helms the company’s board as its chairperson. Amitabh was appointed to the board in the capacity of a non-executive independent director on February 12, 2025.

He was previously associated with the Power Trading Corporation of India, and has served with the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

He, along with other independent directors of the company, earn up to INR 5 Lakh along with a sitting fee of INR 1 Lakh for attending each meeting.

Ex-Zomato CFO Nitin Savara joined PW’s board as an independent director alongside Amitabh earlier this year. Besides PW, he is a director in Honda Cars and has been running his advisory firm Kornerstone Advisors and quick commerce fulfilment company Moonstone Ventures since 2022.

Former RBI regional director Rachna Dikshit joined the edtech’s cap table in February as an independent director. Besides, she is currently on the boards of companies like Capital Small Finance Bank, Miracle Foundation India, India Shelter Finance Corporation, among others.

WestBridge Capital India’s cofounder and managing partner Sandeep Singhal has been representing the VC on PW’s cap table since March 1.

Chartered accountant Amit Sachdeva joined PW as its CFO in November 2024 after a near two year stint with SaaS company IGT Solutions. Prior to his engagement with IGT, he served as the CFO andhead of finance for quick commerce major Blinkit for over three years. At PW, he leads strategic and financial initiatives.

He received an aggregate compensation of INR 79.5 Lakh in fiscal year 2024-25.

Jain is the group general counsel, company secretary and compliance officer of the company and is responsible for legal, managerial, secretarial and regulatory compliance of PhysicsWallah. He has been associated with the company since December 9, 2024.

Prior to joining our Company, he was associated with AceVector Limited (formerly known as Snapdeal Limited), Unicommerce eSolutions Limited, API Holdings Limited, 91Streets Media Technologies Private Limited, Medlife International Private Limited (merged with API Holdings Limited), Games 24×7 Private Limited, Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited, Pantomath Capital Advisors Private Limited and Gangakhed Sugar & Energy Limited.

He received a remuneration of INR 33.4 Lakh in FY25.

Sharma has been serving as the COO of the edtech company since 2021. Prior to joining the edtech giant, Sharma was associated with Avail Finance, Ola, among others. He received an aggregate compensation of INR 4.3 Cr in FY25.

Sharma took over the role of CMO of the company in May 2025 after a near 16 year engagement with digital marketing agency Unyscape.

Swarup is the senior vice president- tech engineering of the company and is responsible for setting up its technology vision and development. He has been associated with the company since July 3, 2025.

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