Think Investments acquires 5% of anchor book in PhysicsWallah IPO
Global investment firm Think Investments has increased its stake in edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah, acquiring around 5% of the anchor portion as the company launched its Rs 3,480 crore initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday.
“Think Investments wanted to take a larger share of the anchor portion, but that wasn’t feasible as PhysicsWallah’s anchor book was already very crowded,” said a person aware of the matter, adding that the investment firm had requested some secondary buyback.
The firm, via its TIMF Holdings, acquired shares worth about Rs 77 crore at Rs 109 per share. Earlier, Think Investments invested about Rs 136 crore in PhysicsWallah via a secondary share sale. It bought 0.41% of the company’s pre-IPO equity from 14 employees at Rs 127 per share, which is roughly 17% higher than the issue price.
This also marks Think Investments’ first foray into the edtech space. The $3 billion firm has previously invested in companies like Chaayos, Dream11, Swiggy, Spinny, FirstCry, and PharmEasy.
The Noida-based firm’s anchor book was oversubscribed 13 times, attracting bids of nearly Rs 20,000 crore at the upper end of the price band, said sources. A total of 57 investors took part in the anchor round, including domestic institutions such as ICICI Prudential, Kotak, Nippon Life, and Aditya Birla Sun Life, along with global investors like Goldman Sachs, PineBridge Global Funds, and Eastspring Investments.
According to the anchor allocation document, the company allotted about 14 crore shares to anchor investors. Mutual funds accounted for 55.48% of this allocation, amounting to around Rs 867 crore across 35 schemes.
Think Investments doubling down is significant since none of the existing investors–WestBridge Capital, GSV Ventures, Lightspeed, or Hornbill Capital — are selling their stake. According to the firm’s red herring prospectus (RHP), cofounders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari will each offload shares worth Rs 190 crore, totalling Rs 380 crore — compared to the Rs 720 crore they’d initially planned.
PhysicsWallah is set to become the first Indian edtech firm to go public after the sector’s reset following Byju’s downfall. In the test-prep segment, the company competes with Aakash Institute, Allen Career Institute, and Unacademy.
The company received bids for 13 million shares, or about 7% of the 186 million shares it put on offer on the first day of the opening. This was led by the employee quota, which was fully subscribed.
Maheshwari, in an interview with ET on November 6, had said that the company chose to go public now to ensure growth for everyone. Delaying the move could taper sentiment and prompt investors to sell, he said.
PhysicsWallah has set a price band of Rs 103-109 per share for its IPO. At the upper end of the band, the firm will be valued at Rs 31,500 crore, or around $3.6 billion, which is 30% higher than its last valuation when it closed a $210 million funding round in September 2024, led by Hornbill Capital and Lightspeed.
A large part of the Rs 3,100-crore fresh capital that the company is raising from the IPO will be deployed towards offline expansion, according to PhysicsWallah’s prospectus.
During the first quarter of FY26, the edtech firm saw its operating revenue grow 33% to Rs 847 crore, from Rs 635 crore a year ago. However, the net loss widened to Rs 127 crore from Rs 72 crore during the same period.
“Think Investments wanted to take a larger share of the anchor portion, but that wasn’t feasible as PhysicsWallah’s anchor book was already very crowded,” said a person aware of the matter, adding that the investment firm had requested some secondary buyback.
The firm, via its TIMF Holdings, acquired shares worth about Rs 77 crore at Rs 109 per share. Earlier, Think Investments invested about Rs 136 crore in PhysicsWallah via a secondary share sale. It bought 0.41% of the company’s pre-IPO equity from 14 employees at Rs 127 per share, which is roughly 17% higher than the issue price.
This also marks Think Investments’ first foray into the edtech space. The $3 billion firm has previously invested in companies like Chaayos, Dream11, Swiggy, Spinny, FirstCry, and PharmEasy.
The Noida-based firm’s anchor book was oversubscribed 13 times, attracting bids of nearly Rs 20,000 crore at the upper end of the price band, said sources. A total of 57 investors took part in the anchor round, including domestic institutions such as ICICI Prudential, Kotak, Nippon Life, and Aditya Birla Sun Life, along with global investors like Goldman Sachs, PineBridge Global Funds, and Eastspring Investments.
According to the anchor allocation document, the company allotted about 14 crore shares to anchor investors. Mutual funds accounted for 55.48% of this allocation, amounting to around Rs 867 crore across 35 schemes.
Think Investments doubling down is significant since none of the existing investors–WestBridge Capital, GSV Ventures, Lightspeed, or Hornbill Capital — are selling their stake. According to the firm’s red herring prospectus (RHP), cofounders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari will each offload shares worth Rs 190 crore, totalling Rs 380 crore — compared to the Rs 720 crore they’d initially planned.
PhysicsWallah is set to become the first Indian edtech firm to go public after the sector’s reset following Byju’s downfall. In the test-prep segment, the company competes with Aakash Institute, Allen Career Institute, and Unacademy.
The company received bids for 13 million shares, or about 7% of the 186 million shares it put on offer on the first day of the opening. This was led by the employee quota, which was fully subscribed.
Maheshwari, in an interview with ET on November 6, had said that the company chose to go public now to ensure growth for everyone. Delaying the move could taper sentiment and prompt investors to sell, he said.
PhysicsWallah has set a price band of Rs 103-109 per share for its IPO. At the upper end of the band, the firm will be valued at Rs 31,500 crore, or around $3.6 billion, which is 30% higher than its last valuation when it closed a $210 million funding round in September 2024, led by Hornbill Capital and Lightspeed.
A large part of the Rs 3,100-crore fresh capital that the company is raising from the IPO will be deployed towards offline expansion, according to PhysicsWallah’s prospectus.
During the first quarter of FY26, the edtech firm saw its operating revenue grow 33% to Rs 847 crore, from Rs 635 crore a year ago. However, the net loss widened to Rs 127 crore from Rs 72 crore during the same period.
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