According to EU-Startups, French EdTech company Filiz just raised €6 million from entrepreneurial platform Hexa in a partnership that includes both funding and operational support. Founded in 2021 by Maxime and Aurélia Jacquet, the Olonne-sur-Mer-based startup already serves over 500 campuses in France including Datascientest and 42, and has tripled its revenue year-over-year to reach €2 million ARR while remaining profitable. The company helps private schools and apprenticeship centers manage financial, administrative, and academic operations through its SaaS platform. With this funding, Filiz plans to expand across Europe and grow revenue 10× within the next five years. The partnership will help transform Filiz from a proven French product into what they hope becomes a European standard for higher education management.
Why this matters now
Here’s the thing – private higher education is exploding across Europe. In France alone, enrollment has doubled over the past 20 years, with similar trends happening in Spain, Italy, and Germany. But most institutions are still stuck using outdated, fragmented software that can’t handle modern administrative complexity. Recent apprenticeship reforms in France have made everything more complicated, linking public payments to attendance days and adding employer contributions. Schools are drowning in paperwork while trying to focus on their actual educational mission. That’s exactly the gap Filiz is targeting.
Big money in a niche market
What’s really interesting about this €6 million round is how it stands out in the current EdTech funding landscape. Most administrative EdTech deals in Europe this year have been in the lower-single-digit-million range – Filiz’s raise is one of the larger transactions in its category. It suggests investors see real potential in platforms that can streamline the messy backend operations of education institutions. And honestly, when you look at the numbers – tripling revenue while staying profitable without outside funding until now – you can see why Hexa was willing to make this bet. They’re not just funding potential; they’re scaling something that’s already working.
Where Filiz is headed
The company is evolving beyond just financial and administrative management to build what they call an “all-in-one operations system” that connects every part of a school’s activity. The next phase includes AI-powered tools to simplify planning, automate tasks, and give directors real-time insights. But here’s the real question: can a French company successfully expand across Europe’s diverse education systems? Each country has its own regulations, funding models, and administrative quirks. Hexa seems to think so – they’re betting their scaling expertise combined with Filiz’s deep market understanding can create the category leader for higher education operations across the continent.
The bigger picture
Look, education technology isn’t just about flashy learning apps or AI tutors anymore. The real pain point for many institutions is the boring, unsexy backend operations that eat up staff time and resources. When schools are spending more time on paperwork than education, something’s broken. Filiz is part of a growing recognition that modernizing education means modernizing the infrastructure that supports it. And with private education continuing to grow across Europe, the timing might be perfect for a platform that can help thousands of institutions adapt to change while focusing on what actually matters – teaching students.
