PhysicsWallah’s sale of a ₹95.8 crore loan portfolio to Auxilo looks small next to a company doing nearly ₹3,900 crore of annual revenue. But the more interesting number is ₹4,426 crore.
That is roughly how much market value PW added on the day it said it would stop putting more money into its lending business.
Only a week earlier, PhysicsWallah had announced another ₹120 crore investment into FinZ Finance, its NBFC. Management said it had already facilitated about ₹200 crore of education loans over two years, serving roughly 80,000 students, with NPAs below 1%. Around 70% of borrowers were PW students.
The logic sounded reasonable. A ₹60,000 course becomes easier to sell when the parent can pay ₹5,000 a month. Financing improves conversion, allows students to buy more expensive programmes and removes friction at checkout.
But investors were asking a different question: why should PhysicsWallah itself provide the money? That is where the strategy started looking weak.
PW’s advantage is access to students. It knows when they are looking for a course, what they want to study and how much they can afford. That makes PW valuable to banks and NBFCs.
It does not automatically make PW good at lending.
Lending needs funding lines, collections, provisioning, risk management and regulatory compliance. More importantly, it keeps consuming capital as it grows. The ₹120 crore investment was not the real concern. If FinZ had eventually built a ₹1,000 crore or ₹2,000 crore loan book, PW would have needed to keep feeding it capital.
That makes little sense when PW is already spending heavily on offline expansion. Its centre count jumped from 198 to 353 in FY26. Offline revenue is growing fast, but that business is still less profitable than online.
There is also a conflict worth noticing. When the same group sells the course and finances the purchase, the education business wants more enrolments while the lender is supposed to ask whether the family should borrow at all.
PW does not need that problem.
Its competitors largely avoid it too. ALLEN, Unacademy and upGrad use banks and financing partners. Paytm has built a large financial-services business mainly by distributing loans rather than carrying them itself.
That is probably where PW should end up. Students may still need credit. PhysicsWallah should help them get it. But owning the loan book was solving the right problem in the wrong way.
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.
“Apun Dono Ki Dosti Pakki Hai”: Razorpay Partners With OpenAI
Razorpay has expanded its OpenAI partnership to help Indian brands advertise through ChatGPT. Razorpay Engage will support catalogue preparation, product-feed structuring, campaign management and performance measurement.
The platform will also deploy an AI agent to monitor and optimise campaigns with human oversight.
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“Kaafi Phaila Hua Dhandha Hai”: Table Space Expands Hyderabad Portfolio
Table Space has expanded its Hyderabad footprint to 1.56 Mn sq. ft. across eight years.
DoorDash has picked the workspace operator for its first India talent hub in HITEC City.
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“Kuch Toh Log Kahenge”: ideaForge Founder Pledges 2.8 Lakh Shares
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The pledged stake is worth around ₹20.56 Cr.
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“Aloo Le Lo Kanda Le Lo”: PhysicsWallah To Sell ₹96 Cr Loan Portfolio
PhysicsWallah’s FinZ Finance will sell a ₹95.79 Cr loan portfolio to Auxilo Finserve.
The sale advances PhysicsWallah’s retreat from direct lending as it shifts credit exposure to third-party NBFCs and refocuses capital on its education business.
Read more here
“Shuru Hote Hi Khatam”: AceVector Debuts Below Issue Price
Snapdeal parent AceVector listed at ₹28.30 on the BSE, an 11.6% discount to its ₹32 issue price. It closed its first trading session at ₹26.10, down 18.4%, while its NSE shares ended 18.5% lower.
The weak debut came despite the ₹420 Cr IPO receiving 4.93X subscription.
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“Janmo Ke Saathi”: Flipkart Acquires Minority Stake In TravClan
Flipkart has acquired an undisclosed minority stake in Delhi-based B2B travel-tech startup TravClan. The investment will strengthen international holiday packages across Cleartrip and Flipkart Travel.
TravClan works with more than 15,000 travel agents.
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“Plix Ab Apna Hai”: Marico Buys Additional Stake In Plix
Marico has acquired another 24.09% stake in plant-based nutrition and personal-care startup Plix for ₹1,012.03 Cr. The transaction increases Marico’s total holding to 84.09%.
Marico plans to purchase another 14.09% in July 2027 for a base consideration of up to ₹592 Cr, plus milestone-linked payments.
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Leverage Edu is eyeing ₹600 Cr revenue in FY27, up 61% from FY26. The IPO-bound startup is also exploring a ₹500 Cr pre-IPO round.
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Bengaluru-based QpiAI has raised ₹50 Cr in debt from InnoVen Capital. The quantum computing startup will issue 5,000 NCDs to fund its growth.
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Pune-based sales hiring startup Scooter has raised ₹1.5 Cr in a pre-seed round led by AJVC.
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