Mattilda

High-Level Overview

Mattilda is a Mexico City-based fintech/edtech startup founded in 2022 that provides a SaaS platform and financial services tailored for private schools in Latin America.[1][2][3] It builds software for automating tuition collections, invoicing, and financial management, while offering guaranteed revenue solutions and collateral-free credit lines backed by future tuition payments.[1][2][3] Mattilda serves private schools—particularly those with low- and middle-income families—helping them streamline erratic cash flows from late payments, reduce administrative burdens, and access growth capital that traditional banks rarely provide.[1][2][3][5] The company has raised $58.7M total, including a $50M credit line from Lendable in 2025 and prior investments from QED Investors, achieving strong growth with operations in Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador, impacting over 200 schools and 100,000 users.[1][2][5]

Origin Story

Mattilda was founded in 2022 by José Agote (CEO), Jesús Lanza, Juan Pablo Bravo, Adrián Garza, and Ileana Gómez Gasteasoro (COO).[2][3] Agote, Lanza, and Bravo previously collaborated at Lottus Education, a Mexico-based university platform, giving them deep insight into education sector challenges like volatile tuition collections.[3] The idea emerged from recognizing that private schools in Latin America, especially in Mexico's $15B market serving over 5 million students, struggle with unpredictable payments and limited financing options from banks charging high rates (e.g., 30%).[2][3] Early traction came via QED Investors' backing in 2022, followed by product launches like WhatsApp payment links and integrations with neobanks such as Nubank and MercadoPago through tapi, quickly scaling to manage collections for hundreds of institutions.[1][2][3]

Core Differentiators

• Guaranteed Revenue and Risk Absorption: Schools receive fixed monthly payments while Mattilda handles invoicing, collections via personalized WhatsApp/email links, and bears late payment risks, using diverse methods like cards, transfers, and cash at stores.[1][2][3]
• Collateral-Free Lending: Provides credit lines equivalent to 3-12 months of collections, filling a gap where banks avoid school fees as assets; secured a $50M line from Lendable for expansion.[2][3][5]
• Dual-User SaaS Platform: Administrators get consolidated financial dashboards and automation; parents access easy payments and document hubs, reducing late tuition and admin tasks.[1][2]
• Payment Integrations and UX Focus: Partnerships like tapi enable quick neobank payments (e.g., MercadoPago), modernizing education finance and targeting low/middle-income families.[1][3]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Mattilda rides the wave of digital payments surging in Latin America, where fintechs are transforming fragmented financial systems for underserved sectors like education.[3] Timing aligns with rising neobanking adoption (e.g., Nubank) and post-pandemic demand for efficient school operations amid economic volatility affecting family payments.[1][3] Market forces favoring it include Mexico's massive untapped private school market (30,000+ institutions, $15B tuition) and regulatory hurdles for traditional lending, enabling fintechs to offer lower-cost capital.[2][3][5] By automating admin and providing financing, Mattilda influences the ecosystem, freeing schools to focus on teaching, planning marketplaces for supplies, and expanding regionally—pioneering edtech-finance hybrids that could standardize school finance across Spanish-speaking LatAm.[2][3][5]

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Mattilda's momentum—$58.7M raised, multi-country ops, and debt facilities—positions it to capture significant share in LatAm's school finance market, with plans for new products, acquisitions, and marketplaces driving further scale.[1][3][5] Trends like AI-driven collections, deeper neobank ties, and edtech consolidation will shape its path, potentially evolving it into a full-service platform for school operations. As it expands beyond Mexico, expect heightened influence on regional education access, tying back to its core mission of stabilizing schools' finances to prioritize teaching.