PhysicsWallah launches School of Startups with INR 100 crore fund for 100 ventures

Indian edtech company PhysicsWallah (PW) launched PW School of Startups (SOS), an entrepreneurship and incubation initiative run under its PW Foundation, on August 21, 2024. The company set aside a fund of INR 100 crore, about $11.9 million, and said it aimed to support at least 100 startups over five years. For the following 12 months, PW SOS set a target of enrolling 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs in its entry program and 100 in its longer program.

The initiative was organized as three programs aimed at different stages. Aarambh is a five-day in-person program for school students, college students and early professionals. Prarambh is a five-month in-person program for college students, early professionals, small family business owners, second-generation entrepreneurs and people interested in social impact, covering business model development, branding and budgeting. Hopes Alive is a free five-month hybrid program for seed-funded or bootstrapped startups from across India.

According to the reports, Hopes Alive offers participants financial resources, expert counseling and connections intended to help them scale, while co-founder Prateek Maheshwari said SOS would give founders mentorship from experienced startup builders. PW described the overall platform as offering affordable programs, but the sources did not publish fees for Aarambh and Prarambh or a per-startup investment amount from the fund. In November 2024, PW SOS announced a second Aarambh cohort and said applications for it would open shortly.

PhysicsWallah was founded in 2020 by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari and is headquartered in Noida. Described in launch coverage as an edtech unicorn, at the time of the launch it offered test preparation in more than 43 exam categories as well as Gurukulam Schools in Gurugram and Varanasi. In its launch coverage, YourStory also reported that Lightspeed Venture Partners was set to lead a $150 million funding round in PW, describing it as a report rather than a completed deal.