BREAKING Filadd (YC S21) serves 25,000+ students a year across four countries★ Named to HolonIQ 100 LatAm EdTech 2024★ Founded in Córdoba, Argentina — 2018★ 90% YoY growth, industry-leading margins★ Backed by Y Combinator, Alaya Capital, IncutexBREAKING Filadd (YC S21) serves 25,000+ students a year across four countries★ Named to HolonIQ 100 LatAm EdTech 2024★ Founded in Córdoba, Argentina — 2018★ 90% YoY growth, industry-leading margins★ Backed by Y Combinator, Alaya Capital, Incutex
Company Profile · EdTech · Latin America
Filadd. Getting Latin America into college.
A Córdoba-born, Y Combinator (S21) edtech turning the region's toughest entrance exams into a path more students can actually walk.
YC S21 • Córdoba, Argentina • Founded 2018
FILADD, CÓRDOBA — The brand four engineers built to help students across Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia pass the exams that guard the university gate.
25K+Students / year
4Countries
90%YoY growth
S21YC batch
The Dispatch
The exam is the gate. Filadd builds the key.
In much of Latin America, a single standardized test can decide whether a seventeen-year-old ever sets foot in a university lecture hall. Chile has the PAES. Brazil has the ENEM. The stakes are enormous, the preparation is uneven, and the best private tutoring has long been priced out of reach for most families.
Filadd was founded in 2018 in Córdoba, Argentina, by four engineers who understood that system from the inside. Their pitch to Y Combinator, which accepted the company into its Summer 2021 batch, fit in a sentence the founders still repeat: we help students in Latin America graduate from college. Today the platform serves more than 25,000 students a year across Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, with reported year-over-year growth near 90 percent and what the company describes as industry-leading margins.
What follows is a look at what Filadd actually does, who it serves, and why an edtech built far from Silicon Valley has drawn attention from investors and rankings alike.
What it does
Exam prep, unbundled from the tutoring price tag
Filadd sells premium, personalized online courses that prepare students for regional college entrance exams and, once they are enrolled, help them pass university-level subjects. The product is a blend rather than a single format: recorded video lessons for scale, live tutoring for real-time support, AI-powered study plans that adapt to a student's progress, and downloadable resources for offline study.
The insight underneath the blend is that no single format wins on its own. Video is cheap but passive. Live tutoring works but is expensive. AI study plans are only useful when they sequence the other two to how a student actually studies.
Who uses it
The core users are high-school students preparing for the PAES in Chile or the ENEM in Brazil - the make-or-break exams that gatekeep admission - alongside university students who buy support courses to get through demanding coursework and stay on track to graduate.
The problem it solves
Access. A passing score can change the arc of a life, yet quality preparation has historically depended on what a family can pay. Filadd's model is built to be affordable relative to in-person private tutors, widening the pool of students who can genuinely compete.
"Premium, personalized courses combining engaging video lessons, live tutoring, AI-powered study plans, and downloadable resources."
Products & services
Five pieces, one preparation engine
SINCE 2018
Entrance Exam Courses
Personalized prep for regional exams like Chile's PAES and Brazil's ENEM, structured around each country's format.
SINCE 2018
Live Tutoring
Live classes that supplement recorded content with real-time interaction and instructor support.
FROM 2021
AI Study Plans
Adaptive plans that personalize what a student studies and when, based on progress toward their target exam.
SINCE 2018
University Subject Support
Support courses that help enrolled students pass coursework and keep moving toward a degree.
SINCE 2018
Downloadable Resources
Practice materials and study content students can use offline, anywhere.
The market & the edge
Where Filadd fits - and how it differs
Latin American edtech is crowded, from local preuniversitarios and Brazilian cursinhos to online players like Descomplica and broader skill platforms such as Platzi and Crehana. Filadd's differentiation is focus: it targets the highest-stakes moment in a student's academic life - the entrance exam - where motivation is inherited from the test itself rather than manufactured by the platform.
That focus shows up in the numbers. Retention is the graveyard of most edtech; Filadd's exam-driven users arrive already desperate to succeed, which helps explain reported 90 percent year-over-year growth and strong margins on a relatively modest amount of capital.
Business model
Direct-to-consumer. Students buy course programs and subscriptions, priced below traditional tutoring, and revenue scales with enrollment across multiple countries.
Students / year25,000+
YoY growth~90%
Countries served4
Team size~100
OfficesCórdoba · BA · Santiago
FIG. 1 — Filadd at a glance. Figures self-reported / third-party estimates; bar widths are illustrative.
The team
Four engineers, one mission
Filadd's founders are industrial and computer engineers rather than career educators - outsiders who saw the system clearly because they had to survive it.
JO
Joaquín Olmedo
Co-Founder & CEO
Industrial engineer (Universidad Católica de Córdoba), focused on technology and people.
GB
Guillermo Bruchmann Tanodi
Co-Founder · Product
Full-stack developer focused on digital product design.
AT
Agustín Trombotto
Co-Founder & CTO
Computer engineer specializing in technology innovation.
NF
Nicolás Ferrer
Co-Founder · Growth
Industrial engineer leading growth; drawn to marketing and statistics.
The story so far
Milestones & funding
2018
Founded in Córdoba
Four engineers launch Filadd to help Latin American students prepare for university.
Operations extend across Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, with offices in Córdoba, Buenos Aires and Santiago.
2024
HolonIQ 100 LatAm EdTech
Recognized among the 100 most promising education-technology companies in Latin America.
Backers
Filadd raised a seed round in 2021 led by Y Combinator, with participation from regional investors including Alaya Capital, Incutex, doingLABS and Zentani Capital. In keeping with a region where megarounds are rare, the company has leaned on capital efficiency - building a real business before building a fundraising story.
"We help students in Latin America graduate from college."
Funding figures per public databases; some totals vary by source and are approximate.
Good to know
Frequently asked
What does Filadd do?
Filadd is an edtech company that helps Latin American students prepare for college entrance exams and pass university coursework through online courses combining video lessons, live tutoring, AI-powered study plans and downloadable resources.
Where is Filadd based and where does it operate?
Filadd is headquartered in Córdoba, Argentina, with offices also in Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. It serves students across Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.
Who founded Filadd and when?
Filadd was founded in 2018 by Joaquín Olmedo (CEO), Guillermo Bruchmann Tanodi, Agustín Trombotto (CTO) and Nicolás Ferrer.
Is Filadd a Y Combinator company?
Yes. Filadd was part of Y Combinator's Summer 2021 (S21) batch, which backed the company alongside investors such as Alaya Capital and Incutex.
How many students does Filadd serve?
Filadd serves more than 25,000 students annually across four Latin American countries and reports roughly 90% year-over-year growth.
Topics
Filed under
EdTechLatin AmericaExam PrepY CombinatorYC S21Online CoursesAI Study PlansCórdobaPAESENEMD2CUniversity Admission
Sources: Y Combinator, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Parsers.vc, Entreprenerd/HolonIQ, Dealroom. Figures self-reported or from third-party databases and are approximate.
