Mattilda

The go-to payment collections platform for schools in Latin America.

Founders Jesús Lanza, José Agote, Juan Pablo Brava
Sector Key Stage 12
Website https://mattilda.io/
Location Mexico City, Mexico
Impact Enabling private schools to plan their budgets effectively and allocate resources to the school and its students.

May 2022 Mattilda raises a $5.5M seed round, with Emerge’s participation

Aug 2022 First schools signed with approx 1,000 students

Sept 2022 First loan originated

Oct 2022 Mattilda raises an extension round of $10M, with Emerge’s participation

Feb 2023 More than 20,000 students and close to 30 schools

What is it?

Mattilda’s B2B SaaS platform streamlines the financial management and administrative processes of private schools in Latin America. Private schools can predict and manage their cash flow, freeing up time and resources to focus on education. 

Why we invested

The founders

Jesús, José and Juan had previously worked together at Lottus Education, a highly successful educational provider in Mexico with over 90,000 students. During their time at Lottus they noticed the challenges faced by private schools in managing their finances and collecting tuition payments. They were struck by the inefficiency and volatility of the current system, where schools spend a significant amount of time chasing payments and reconciling accounts – and recognised the opportunity to improve the process through technology. Together with Adrián Garza and Ileana Gómez, they set out to create a solution that facilitates private schools’ financial management and tuition payment collections, enabling them to invest more back into their institution and its students.

The problem

Private schools in Latin America often struggle with inefficient and time-consuming financial management and tuition payment processes, leading to unpredictable cash flow and high default and delinquency rates. These issues can make it difficult for schools to plan their budgets and allocate resources effectively, ultimately impacting the quality of education they are able to provide to their students. The Covid-19 pandemic further exacerbated these challenges, making it even more difficult for private schools to manage their finances and retain staff and resources.

The solution

The platform includes features such as credit backed by future tuition fees, accounts receivable management, digital tuition payments, and a centralised interface for communication with students’ families. Mattilda also improves the experience of students and families by providing a single point of contact for payment plans, discounts, scholarships and billing. Institutions can request advance fee payments from 3 to 12 months in advance, enabling them to finance growth projects and provide financial relief.

The opportunity

There is an urgent need for digital solutions to facilitate financial management and tuition payment processes for private schools in Latin America. In Mexico alone, there are more than 5 million students, accounting for $15 billion in tuition. It is projected that, by 2030, cashless payments will double in the region – and while many schools accept bank transfers or debit card payments, they are not equipped for these payments to be made online rather than by someone physically driving to the school, card in hand. As such, schools face inefficient processes and high default and delinquency rates, with no way to efficiently track missing payments. Mattilda’s solution streamlines these processes and provides schools with more efficient digital payment options.

The impact

“The fact that I have the absolute certainty of my monthly cash flow gives me the possibility to do my planning, to carry out my budgets and to be able to execute it… Historically, financial companies did not turn to see the schools, we were very abandoned by them. Mattilda comes to fill that gap, helps us to streamline processes, especially the collection process… and generate what we want – education inside the classrooms.” Miguel Ángel Nájera, Director of Summerhill College

“The collection process is key to our operation in all schools, so placing this key process in the right hands is important…It allows us to focus much more on student services, on academic quality, and focus the resources we had for collection on other priorities.” Juan Pablo Guajardo, Director General of the Latin American University

“The best thing yet is the credit that Mattilda gave me. Today, we are very happy because we are going to open new facilities that, without Mattilda, would not have been possible.” Luigi Medina, Director General of the Instituto México Inglés School

Quote from the Founders

Emerge immediately understood our vision and have continually supported us at every stage towards it. Their deep expertise in the education sector and focus on community building deliver tremendous value. They introduced us to our advisor, Rob Grimshaw, the former CEO of TES, who was enthusiastic to work with us from day one. Rob’s expertise in the K-12 education sector has been invaluable in helping us to understand the drivers for school decision-makers and product positioning to engage with schools and teachers.

Emerge has also hosted roundtables with successful founders in specific support areas such as building a direct sales and marketing team in the UK and USA, which have been very helpful in guiding our growth. Overall, their community of edtech operators has been a source of immense market insight and we are grateful for their continued support.

 

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