Fidu, an Argentinian startup that offers an operating system for schools, announced a $5M round in which Lightspeed Venture Partners, NFX, Imaginable Futures, and Broom Ventures participated. Several founders also participated as angel investors: Felipe Villamarin and Andrés Bilbao from Rappi, Roberto Souviron from Despegar, Fabian Gomez from Frubana, and Matías Woloski from Auth0.

According to the company,  the funding will help to continue scaling its platform to help schools automate all major processes including payments, communications, cost management, and learning management through custom apps and interfaces for administrators and parents.

Founded in 2022 by Nicolás Giménez, Caterina Carreño, and Ariel Manduca, the startup provides customized digital solutions for educators to digitally manage the school’s finances, announcements, and more. 

Fidu’s debut product is an app providing through integrated receivables management solution with access to guaranteed revenue financing, which they are already piloting in Mexico City and Bogota.

Giménez explains that most schools in Latin America receive tuitions in cash. They also tend to keep the cash in the school before making the deposit. “Most schools use inefficient (and mostly offline) administrative processes, which leads to school administrators spending +70% of their time in bureaucratic tasks instead of teaching,” said him.

The startup claims that its system is already being used by more than 1,000 schools in Latin America. By optimizing operational and financial processes for schools, and making sure they can set up the system in 48 hours, Fidu gives them more time for what really matters: educating.