Edtech's Boom and Bust

How online coaching firms like BYJU'S, Unacademy and Physics Wallah boomed during COVID-19, and why many struggled or collapsed after 2022.

Online coaching boomed and then busted.

Boom

COVID-19 closed schools in 2020; online learning surged.
BYJU’S reached a valuation of about $22 billion in 2022.

Bust

Students returned to classrooms.
Aggressive sales tactics and losses drew criticism.
BYJU’S faced insolvency proceedings and lender disputes from 2023-24.
Unacademy cut jobs.

Physics Wallah

Physics Wallah, founded by Alakh Pandey, grew with low-cost courses and later opened offline centres; it listed on the stock market in 2025.

Hybrid

Most firms moved to hybrid online-offline models.

Lesson

Cheap capital can fuel growth that isn’t sustainable.

The low-fee course

A student in a small town buys a low-cost Physics Wallah course instead of moving to Kota.

Thinking edtech would replace classrooms

Students returned to offline coaching.

Key takeaways

COVID drove an edtech boom.
BYJU'S reached $22 billion, then collapsed.
Physics Wallah grew with low prices.
Hybrid models now dominate.