Physics Wallah Acquires UAE-based Knowledge Planet, Chalks Up First International Move

The company previously acquired Indian companies such as online medical entrance exam training platform PrepOnline, exam preparation book publisher Altis Vortex, question-solving, resource management start-up FreeCo, and life improvement start-up iNeuron.ai.

In a statement, PW said that while it will leverage Knowledge Planet's school partnership mechanism to reach students in the United Arab Emirates, Knowledge Planet will leverage PW's suite of technology to enhance its online and hybrid offerings.

PW added that it will offer preparatory courses for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) for students seeking to move abroad for higher education in the Middle East.

The company also believes the acquisition will add a 250 million dollars market for offline test preparation for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for the Indian diaspora in the region.

"We are pleased to announce the United Arab Emirates as the location of our first foreign acquisition. With 13 centers operating in the Middle East and a well-established school partnership model, Knowledge Planet, the most trusted test preparation network, is the perfect brand for our entry into this promising market. “This is a significant milestone in the PW journey and we are excited to welcome students from this area into the PW family,” said Alakh Pandey, CEO and founder of PhysicsWallah.

Founded in 2011 by Monika Oli and Sachin Bharti Gupta, Knowledge Planet provides exam preparation and training for major competitive exams like JEE and NEET.

Through Knowledge Planet's partnership model, BW said it will be able to expand its existing bundle offerings. PW also said it is looking to expand beyond the Middle East to countries like Egypt and Turkey.

"We share Alakh Pandey's objective for providing high-quality education in the Middle East on a broad scale. Our combined experience will be able to add tremendous value to the test preparation sector in the United Arab Emirates," said Gupta, who also He is executive director of Planet of knowledge.

The document showed that GSV Ventures-backed Unicorn posted a net profit of Rs 97.8 crore for FY22, almost 14 times more than FY21 profit of Rs 6.93 crore. Its operating income grew almost 10-fold during the period to Rs 232.5 crore from Rs 24.6 crore in FY21, according to the document. PhysicsWallah reported total revenue of Rs.234.1 crore for the year ending March 2022 independently.

During fiscal year 2022, PhysicsWallah's total expenses increased sevenfold to Rs 103.2 crore, thanks to a 21-fold increase in employee benefit costs to Rs 42.18 crore.