Yamil Rabbat

Raised in a family that founded one of Argentina’s largest private universities, Yamil Rabbat co-founded Ed Machina in 2021 to address, through artificial intelligence, a problem intensified by the pandemic: students dropping out of school and university.

Within a few years, he transformed the platform into an international education technology company operating across Latin America, Spain and the United States. Ed Machina was selected for the ASU+GSV Elite 200 in 2023 and later joined the GSV Cup 50, a group of promising education technology companies chosen for the 2024 competition.

A problem he knew from within

Before founding a technology company, Rabbat was already working in education. He led international relations at Universidad Siglo 21, the institution founded by his family and one of Argentina’s leading private universities.

He later completed an MBA at Columbia Business School and spent time in New York, where he managed the company during its first stage.

That background explains the perspective from which he approached the business. He did not arrive in education carrying a technological solution in search of a problem. He was already familiar with the management indicators that concern university leaders before learning how to build and train a predictive model.

Ed Machina: Acting before it is too late

Ed Machina entered the market in October 2021, at a time when student disengagement and dropout rates had become a more visible problem following the pandemic. Rabbat founded the company with Juan Petrello and Pablo Llop, combining experience in education, technology and institutional management.

The platform uses artificial intelligence and predictive models to identify students at risk of dropping out. It analyzes institutional data and helps educational organizations decide which students require attention before disengagement becomes irreversible.

Its main difference from a conventional data dashboard lies in what happens after the warning. The system does more than identify students at risk. It also helps institutions understand the factors behind that risk and automate or recommend actions intended to improve engagement and retention.

Ed Machina presents improvements of up to 14 percent in student retention among its reported results.

Rabbat also emphasizes ease of implementation. Educational institutions do not necessarily need to create a specialized technical department before adopting the platform. They can connect their existing learning and student information systems and begin working with the data already available.

Universidad Siglo 21 became one of the company’s first major testing grounds and later one of the cases Ed Machina used to demonstrate the effectiveness of its model.

International recognition

In 2023, Ed Machina was included in the Elite 200 selected by ASU+GSV, the international education and technology gathering organized around Arizona State University and Global Silicon Valley.

The company was presented as an artificial intelligence platform designed to help institutions ranging from school education to professional training improve student enrollment and retention in real time. At the time, its founding team consisted of Rabbat as CEO, Juan Petrello as CTO and Pablo Llop as COO.

A year later, Ed Machina advanced to the GSV Cup 50. The company reported operations in Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Costa Rica, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Chile and Honduras, with clients including Tecnológico de Monterrey, Laureate Education, Lottus Education and Universidad Siglo 21.

The international exposure confirmed that the problem Ed Machina was addressing extended far beyond Argentina. Student retention affects the finances of institutions, the professional future of students and the capacity of educational systems to turn enrollment into graduation.

The next stage with Endeavor

In March 2025, Endeavor Argentina selected Ed Machina for its ScaleUp Program alongside HOKALI, Darwin AI and Tucán. The initiative is aimed at technology companies that have already validated their business models and need support to accelerate growth and professionalize their operations.

Participation gave Rabbat and his partners access to mentoring, strategic connections and a community of founders who had already faced the difficulties associated with expanding a company beyond its initial market.

For Ed Machina, the selection also represented recognition of a business model built around a measurable social problem. Every student retained is valuable to the institution, but also to the student and the wider community.

A different view of capital

During the Forbes Game Changers Innovation Summit in May 2025, Rabbat presented a view that challenged part of the conventional startup playbook.

He argued that raising an investment round can distract founders from running their companies. Meetings, presentations and negotiations consume time that could otherwise be spent improving the product, serving customers and building the organization.

In his view, venture capital is a tool rather than an objective. Capital makes sense when it supports a clear growth plan, but the ability to announce an investment round should not be confused with the creation of a sustainable company.

Rabbat also rejects the idea that Argentina’s entrepreneurial ecosystem begins and ends in Buenos Aires. Ed Machina developed a team distributed across different parts of the country, taking advantage of talent that does not necessarily live in the capital.

He believes that flexibility, creativity and tolerance for risk can be found throughout Argentina. Those characteristics became particularly important when the investment enthusiasm of 2021 faded and startups had to adjust their costs, products and expansion strategies.

What he values about Argentine education

One idea defines Rabbat’s profile as a leader: although he studied abroad, he believes much of his most valuable training came from Argentina.

He defends the country’s educational system and entrepreneurial organizations as sources of professionals capable of competing internationally. His own company reflects that conviction.

Ed Machina was created to reduce the number of people who leave education before completing their studies. It turned a measurable social problem into an exportable technological product and built a business around helping institutions intervene before a student disappears from the system.

That combination explains Rabbat’s place in Argentina’s entrepreneurial landscape. His work is based on artificial intelligence, but its objective remains distinctly human: helping more students remain in education long enough to complete what they started.