Quick Take
- PhysicsWallah leads consumer edtech with Rs 2,887 Cr ($348 Mn) FY25 revenue and a November 2025 IPO.
- Eruditus tops the sector overall near Rs 5,000 Cr ($602 Mn) FY25 revenue from global upskilling courses.
- upGrad and Unacademy now merge as a single entity, reshaping the race through 2026 and beyond.
In This Article
The top edtech startups in India in 2026 are PhysicsWallah, Eruditus, upGrad, Unacademy and Vedantu, ranked by revenue, profit path and market strength after a brutal sector shakeout.
India’s edtech sector has reset hard since the Byju’s collapse. Funding fell, but the survivors grew leaner and stronger. PhysicsWallah listed publicly in November 2025. Eruditus scaled global upskilling revenue past Rs 4,000 Cr. upGrad moved to absorb Unacademy in an all-stock deal, signaling a clear shift from cash-burn to consolidation across the market.
StartupFeed Insight
The real edtech story is not size, it is survival economics. PhysicsWallah wins by selling JEE and NEET courses at Rs 4,500 while rivals charged Rs 60,000, then layering offline centres on top. Eruditus wins by chasing working professionals, not students, which dodges the price war entirely. Founders and B2B SaaS investors should watch the institutional layer next: India’s 1.5 million schools remain mostly undigitised. StartupFeed predicts at least one pure B2B edtech player will cross Rs 1,000 Cr revenue and file for an IPO before the end of FY27. By Dr. Mayank Raj.
Top Edtech Startups in India: The 2026 Ranking
The top edtech startups in India are ranked here using FY25 operating revenue, profitability trend and market position. Eruditus leads on pure revenue, while PhysicsWallah leads consumer edtech and is the only listed player among them.
| Rank | Startup | FY25 Revenue | Focus Segment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eruditus | ~Rs 5,000 Cr ($602 Mn) | Global executive upskilling |
| 2 | PhysicsWallah | Rs 2,887 Cr ($348 Mn) | JEE, NEET, exam prep |
| 3 | upGrad | ~Rs 1,700 Cr ($205 Mn) | Higher-ed, professional degrees |
| 4 | Unacademy | ~Rs 700 Cr ($84 Mn) | Test prep, live classes |
| 5 | Vedantu | ~Rs 200 Cr ($24 Mn) | Online tutoring, K-12 |
The most striking fact: Eruditus earns more than the next two players combined, yet stays nearly invisible to Indian students because it sells to professionals abroad. Revenue figures are approximate FY25 estimates, drawn from company disclosures and industry reporting.
About PhysicsWallah
PhysicsWallah (PW) is an Indian edtech firm founded in 2020 by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Boob (also reported as Prateek Maheshwari), headquartered in Noida. It sells affordable online and offline test-prep courses for JEE, NEET and UPSC. Paid users grew from 4.46 million in FY25, per its RHP filed with SEBI. It listed on the stock market in November 2025 with backing from earlier investors including WestBridge and GSV Ventures.
Which edtech startup is the strongest right now?
PhysicsWallah is the strongest consumer edtech startup in India right now, judged by revenue scale, profitability path and its successful November 2025 IPO. Its FY25 revenue of Rs 2,887 Cr grew about 48.7% YoY, while losses narrowed sharply to Rs 243 Cr, according to its RHP.
Where Byju’s acquisitions were indiscriminate, PW’s are measured, said co-founder Prateek Maheshwari.
That discipline shows in the numbers. PhysicsWallah kept marketing spend under 10% of revenue while opening over 120 offline centres in a single year, per Business Standard reporting. Eruditus is larger by revenue, but its market is global professionals, so the two rarely compete head-on for the same student. You can review PhysicsWallah’s official investor filings on the SEBI public issues portal.
Is any edtech startup actually profitable?
Among India’s top edtech startups, none is consistently and fully profitable yet, but several are very close. PhysicsWallah posted strong quarterly profits in FY26, with one quarter crossing Rs 100 Cr in profit, though the full year stayed near breakeven due to seasonal admissions.
Eruditus shrank its adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) loss to roughly Rs 69 Cr in FY24 and targets clean profit at scale. Unacademy cut its net loss by about 62% to Rs 631 Cr in FY24. LEAD School turned EBITDA-positive in early FY25. The trend is uniform: the survivors traded growth-at-any-cost for tight, repeatable unit economics across the sector.
How do these startups compare on scale?
The top edtech startups in India split into two distinct camps by business model and scale. Consumer test-prep players like PhysicsWallah and Unacademy chase millions of low-fee students, while upskilling players like Eruditus and upGrad chase fewer, higher-paying professionals.
| Startup | Model | Edge |
|---|---|---|
| PhysicsWallah | B2C, hybrid | Rs 4,500 course pricing, public listing |
| Eruditus | B2C, global | University-partnered degrees, 80+ countries |
| upGrad | B2C, B2B | Professional degrees, Unacademy buyout |
What sets PhysicsWallah apart is price: it offers flagship JEE and NEET courses near Rs 4,500 while traditional coaching charges Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000, per industry reporting.
What’s Next
The next big test arrives with PhysicsWallah’s full FY26 results and the completion of the upGrad-Unacademy merger through 2026. Watch whether PhysicsWallah converts its strong quarters into a clean full-year profit, and whether the merged upGrad-Unacademy entity can finally challenge it on scale. Which model will win India’s classroom, low-cost mass test prep or premium upskilling?
Frequently Asked Questions
Last updated: June 16, 2026 at 14:30 IST
Written by Dr. Mayank Raj. Published: June 16, 2026. Updated: June 16, 2026. Have a tip? Write to us at editorial@startupfeed.in.
