MUMBAI: The Noida-based online education platform Physicswallah, backed by WestBridge Capital, Hornbill, and GSV Ventures, has filed updated draft IPO papers with the regulator Sebi, seeking its nod to raise Rs 3,820 crore through an initial share sale.
The edu-tech firm offers test preparation courses for competitive examinations and courses for upskilling.
The issue comprises mostly of fresh issues of shares worth Rs 3,100 crore, while the promoters Alakh Pandey and Prateek Boob are selling Rs 720 crore via the offer-for-sale route, according to the updated papers on Sunday.
The promoters currently hold 82.3% of Physicswallah, with Alakh and Prateek having 40.35% shareholding each, while public shareholding is 17.7%.
Westbridge AIF I, the venture capital fund managed by the Mauritius-based investment firm Westbridge Capital, is the largest external shareholder with a 6.41% stake, followed by Hornbill Capital Partners with 4.42%.
The US-based venture capital firm GSV Ventures holds 2.85%, Lightspeed Opportunity Fund owns 1.79%, and Setu AIF Trust owns 1.39%.
The Sebi had approved its pre-filing of draft red herring prospectus in July under a confidential pre-filing route, which allows companies to get regulatory review before making them public.
The company plans to deploy Rs 460.6 crore from the fresh issue for fit-outs of new offline and hybrid centres, Rs 548.3 crore for lease payments of existing identified offline and hybrid centres, and Rs 47.2 crore for investment in a subsidiary, Xylem Learning.
Further, Rs 33.7 crore will be utilised for investment in another subsidiary, Utkarsh Classes & Edutech, for its lease payments for existing offline centres, and Rs 26.5 crore for acquisition of additional shareholding in Utkarsh Classes, according to the latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Board.
Further, the company will deploy Rs 200.1 crore for servers and cloud-related infrastructure costs, and Rs 710 crore for marketing initiatives, and the remainder will be set aside for general corporate purposes.
Physicswallah, which conducts test preparation courses focusing on JEE, NEET, GATE and UPSC, had reported Rs 243.2 crore net loss in FY25, narrowing from Rs 1,131.1 crore in the previous year, when its revenue rose 48.7% to Rs 2,886.6 crore from Rs 1,940.7 crore.