Meadow, a New York-based fintech startup, has recently raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by Susa Ventures. The funding round also witnessed participation from prior backers Giant Ventures and new investors AlleyCorp and Daniel Gulati’s Treble Capital. Leading angel investors, including Block Renovation co-founder Koda Wang; Monzo founder Tom Blomfield; Finix founder Richie Serna; and former Head of Product at Braintree and Head of Payments at Intuit Abhi Ranadive, have also participated in the fundraised.
With the fresh capital, the firm plans to expand into more universities and launch Meadow Pay, a payments product where students can easily pay any outstanding balances for college, in the coming months.
Co-founded in 2021 by Alfredo I. Brillembourg and Just Kraprayoon, Meadow helps students calculate their out-of-pocket costs for attending a college or university by showing them the price that they would pay after factoring in things like grants, financial aid, and housing costs. The platform also sends reminders to current students to track when their tuition payments are coming up and how much they owe. It clarifies and simplifies students’ financial experience, improving institutions’ enrollment, retention, and payment outcomes. The startup aims to empower students financially and strengthen economic mobility through higher education.
Speaking about the company, Co-founder & CEO of Meadow, Alfredo I. Brillembourg, said:
Higher education is the number one pathway to economic mobility in America. But with limited access to planning and financial resources and the need to juggle loans, billing, paper trails, payments, third parties, and support, the finances of education can overshadow the learning itself. Universities need to worry about recouping money, and students are hurt. We founded Meadow to help everyone focus on what’s important: education.
Since its launch, the company has grown to over a dozen college and university partners, including UT Austin, American University, and Northern Arizona University. It claims to have delivered personalized price estimates to more than 10,000 students nationwide. On average, students uncover a 30% discount from the sticker price listed on the university website to the net price estimated through Meadow.
Chief Operating Officer of Meadow, Amy Jenkins, commented:
Meadow also helps universities meet a mandated federal compliance requirement to show the actual cost of attending while offering this service in an easy-to-use format for students. The feedback we got from universities was that they used to bury their net price calculator on their site because it needed to be more accurate and user-friendly.
