GSV Ventures has appointed Abhishek Mishra, an executive from its portfolio company PhysicsWallah (PW), as partner. Mishra will oversee the venture capital firm’s investments in the US and India markets.
“We are thrilled to announce that Abhishek Mishra has joined GSV Ventures as our partner based in India,” the firm stated in a LinkedIn post.
The edtech-focused San Francisco-based institutional investor, made its first bet on PW in June 2022 through a $22.9 million investment from GSV Ventures Fund III. It currently holds a 2.15% stake in the company, according to Tracxn data.
The development comes as PW reportedly submitted its draft red herring prospectus to SEBI last month for an Rs 4,600 crore IPO through confidential filing.
So far, in his four-year tenure at PhysicsWallah, which sees Mishra currently serving as chief strategy officer, the edtech giant has raised $310 million, completed 10 acquisitions, and expanded its reach to 46 million students, including 5.5 million paying subscribers. His previous experience includes heading finance operations at fintech unicorn Slice.
Mishra joins Michael Cohn, Jennifer Lee, Deborah H Quazzo, and Rueben Pampoulov, as partners, taking the total partner count to 6, at the firm.
GSV Ventures’ other bets in India include, — Classplus, LEAD School, Simplilearn, Openhouse, FrontRow, and Tekie. Back in 2021, the firm had also invested in the now troubled edtech Byju’s through a $2.6 million cheque as part of a $1.67 billion extended Series F round, which took place across multiple tranches.
India’s edtech sector which experienced a dramatic surge during 2021, has seen substantial correction over subsequent years. However, in 2024 the sector showed its first signs of stabilisation, with $755 million raised across 108 rounds. This is still far behind the peak of 2021 which saw $5.52 billion across 380 funding rounds. So far in 2025, Indian edtechs have raised $32.6 million across 16 rounds, according to Tracxn data.