PW’s IPO Moment, ED Raids, and Deepinder Goyal’s New Venture

For three years, Indian edtech has been an expensive cautionary tale. Byju’s collapsed under its own weight. Unacademy shrank after burning thousands of crores. Vedantu retreated, WhiteHat Jr vanished, and investors fled a sector they once couldn’t stop funding. So when PhysicsWallah launched a ₹3,480 crore IPO - with ₹3,100 crore (89%) as fresh capital - it didn’t feel like another startup chasing liquidity. It felt like the first real sign that edtech might have a future beyond hype.

PhysicsWallah didn’t grow like the rest. While Byju’s raised $5.8 billion and Unacademy spent like a media company, PW built quietly - profitable from day one, capital-efficient, and stubbornly focused on teaching instead of theatrics. The business grew from a YouTube channel to a hybrid model reaching millions, all on barely ₹300 crore of capital raised before listing. And unlike most tech IPOs, this one wasn’t designed to bail out early investors. The OFS was just ₹380 crore, mostly symbolic. Founders are retaining skin in the game.

What makes this IPO interesting is its old-school simplicity. PW is raising money to expand Vidyapeeth centres, hire teachers, and strengthen offline infrastructure - not to rewrite debt, not to plug leaks, not to manufacture valuation jumps. In a sector where companies pretended software margins could apply to classrooms, PW leaned fully into the reality that Indian education is still a physical, trust-led business.

But the edtech landscape around PW is shifting rapidly again, and this time from the outside. upGrad, backed by Temasek, is preparing its own empire move - quietly trying to acquire Unacademy’s test-prep and offline assets while exploring distressed pieces of Byju’s. If that consolidation happens, India’s edtech map could reset overnight.

And yet, PW’s moat remains something money can’t easily buy - trust. Alakh Pandey isn’t a hired face or a celebrity teacher; he’s the brand. Kids from tier 2 and 3 cities believe he’s on their side. That emotional equity is not easily replicable by corporate roll-ups or PE-driven consolidation. But it is also fragile. PW’s biggest vulnerability is teacher churn. Lose a handful of star teachers and the narrative flips instantly, especially as Unacademy, Byju’s/Aakash, Allen, and many regional chains aggressively poach talent.

The offline bet is also a double-edged sword. Physical classrooms scale revenue, but they magnify operational errors. Real estate, utilisation rates, teacher retention, academic outcomes - all become make-or-break metrics. This is the same treadmill that exhausted Aakash before Byju’s bought it. PW is about to run that race at national scale.

What PW represents is bigger than itself. It’s a signal that Indian tech doesn’t have to be a spectacle to succeed. It can be boring, steady, and built on fundamentals. Had Byju’s and Unacademy run their business with even 10% of PW’s restraint, India’s edtech story would look very different today.

The PhysicsWallah IPO is a referendum on what India wants from its tech companies going forward - less drama, more delivery. And if PW gets this right, it won’t just revive edtech. It may set the benchmark for what Indian IPO-ready startups should aspire to: profitable, principled, and built to last.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

“Ye Kya Ho Raha Hai Bhaiya”: ED Raids Gameskraft, WinZO Offices Over Complaints Of Algorithm Rigging

ED swooped into the offices of Gameskraft and WinZO across Bengaluru, Delhi and Gurugram after users filed FIRs alleging that the platforms tweaked their algorithms to tilt the odds against players.

Investigators even uncovered crypto wallets supposedly linked to promoters, turning what looked like routine grumbling into a brewing mystery about trust, fairness and the secret machinery behind online gaming.

Read more here

“Kuch Daring Karna Hai Apun Ko”: Deepinder Goyal Exploring Launch Of Wearable Device Company ‘Temple’

Deepinder Goyal is quietly toying with a new wearable venture called Temple, a project still floating in early-stage whispers but already teasing ambition with a website that simply says “Coming Soon”.

Hinting that the future of health lies inside the brain, turning this whole mystery into the kind of slow-burn reveal that makes you wonder what Eternal’s founder is really sculpting behind the curtain.

Read more here

“Habibi Come To Dubai”: Dubai Founders HQ To Boost Emirate’s Startup and SME Ecosystem

Dubai’s new Founders HQ is shaping up as a power hub for ambition, blending physical spaces with digital support to chase the bold goal of building 30 unicorns and elevating 400 SMEs by 2033.

It was showcased at Expand North Star 2025, offering founders everything from setup support to sharp sector accelerators and seasoned mentorship. For entrepreneurs eyeing scale, it feels like the city just opened a fast lane to its innovation future.

Read more here

“Workers Of The World Unite”: Telangana Cabinet Approves Gig Workers Bill

Telangana has cleared the Gig Workers Bill, setting the stage for a formal safety net for the riders, drivers and delivery heroes who keep the state humming.

The government plans to introduce it in the upcoming assembly session, backed by a new board that unites worker unions, aggregators and officials at one table. If it works as intended, the state might just turn everyday hustle into something a little more secure.

Read more here

“Suswagatam Suswagatam”: BharatPe appoints Anil Kishora as non-executive director on Unity Small Finance Bank board

BharatPe has added industry veteran Anil Kishora to the Unity Small Finance Bank board as a non-executive director, a move that brings four decades of banking wisdom into the room.

With Unity jointly owned by BharatPe and Centrum, his appointment feels like placing a steady hand on a fast-evolving ship. For a bank chasing scale and stability, Kishora’s experience could be the quiet compass guiding its next big steps.

Read more here

1. Axirium Aerospace has raised $3.5 Mn in seed funding led by Shastra VC and BEENEXT, with support from marquee angels like Ashish Gupta and PVS Raj. The Hyderabad startup plans to channel the capital into scaling its aerospace manufacturing ambitions and tightening its hold on a fast-rising frontier.

   Read more here

2. Fintech unicorn Yubi has raised INR 411 Cr through a mix of debt and equity to fuel its next phase of growth. The capital will power its global expansion plans and sharpen its in-house AI products as it continues linking enterprises with lenders on its unified debt platform.

   Read more here

3. SIDBI’s venture arm has hit the first close of its Antariksh Spacetech Fund at INR 1,005 Cr, powered almost entirely by a massive INR 1,000 Cr commitment from IN-SPACe. The fund, targeting a total corpus of INR 1,600 Cr, will back early and growth-stage spacetech startups building everything.

   Read more here

4. Circle has raised Rs 3.4 Cr in a pre-seed round led by Titan Capital, with participation from Myntra cofounder Raveen Sastry. The startup plans to use the funds to boost its AI stack, powering features like guided pricing, automated condition grading and smarter catalog matching.

   Read more here

5. Pype AI has secured $1.2 Mn in a pre-seed round led by Kalaari Capital, with Wyser Capital and Tenity joining in. The funds will fuel development of its automated patient communication platform and support its push into the massive US care management market.

   Read more here

6. Unlimitr has raised $1.1 Mn from a Texas-based investor consortium to scale its AI-driven global wellness platform. The startup, founded by Dr Ruchika Gupta and Gaurav Agarwal, aims to build an Amazon of wellness offering personalised, culturally rooted wellbeing solutions for users worldwide.

   Read more here