Sadia Saifuddin on LinkedIn · Jul 2026
Launch post for the Advancement Agent, highlighting a 79x increase in research output and 4x more strategic research capacity at Westmont College.
AI agents that automate administrative work across college campuses.
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Jul 29, 2026
Overview
Risely AI is a Y Combinator S25 startup building an agentic AI platform for higher education that automates advising, enrollment, and fundraising workflows by connecting to campus systems like SIS, LMS, and CRM.
Primary product
AI Advisor plus an agentic higher-education operations platform
Founded
2025
Headquarters
San Ramon, CA 94583, United States
Team size
1-10
Work style
Onsite
Industry
Higher Education Technology
Sub-industry
Agentic AI for student success and campus operations
Offices
Downtown San Francisco, CA, United States (in-person 5 days/week)
San Ramon, CA 94583, United States (trust portal address)
Business model
B2B SaaS
Enterprise software
Sales-led institutional software
Funding
Stage
Seed
Total raised
$3.6M
Latest round
Seed · Jun 2025
Latest amount
$500K
Jun 2025
People & investors
Founders
CTO & Co-founder
Work & culture
Intense, mission-driven, and hands-on startup culture with a strong bias toward speed, customer deployment, and in-person collaboration in San Francisco.
Work style
Onsite
Visa sponsorship
No
Compensation
Publicly posted roles advertise $150K-$215K for the Founding Platform Engineering Lead, $120K-$180K for the Forward Deployed Engineer, and $90K-$130K for the Founder’s Associate, each with founding-level equity.
Benefits
Founding-level equity
Competitive salary bands
Small early-stage team ownership
Mission-driven work in higher education
Product & market
Pricing
Sales-led, custom-quote enterprise pricing; no public self-serve pricing listed.
Differentiators
- —Specialized AI agents for advising, enrollment, and advancement
- —Integrates directly with SIS, LMS, and CRM systems
- —No data migration required
- —Deploys in roughly 6-12 weeks
- —SOC 2 Type II / FERPA / HECVAT posture
- —Demonstrated case-study outcomes such as 32x outreach and 247% enrollment lift
Technology
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Anthropic Claude
Auth0
Salesforce
Canvas
Banner
Outlook
SIS/LMS/CRM integrations
Customers
University of Arizona Online
The New School of Architecture & Design
Westmont College
Private colleges and universities
R1 research universities
Online universities
Competitors
Anthology
Blackboard
Noodle
Ellucian
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
≈$660K ARR (public third-party estimate)
Latest news
Shahryar Abbasi on LinkedIn · Jun 2026
Case-study post describing a 32x increase in proactive outreach, 1,400 hours of capacity added, and the system integrations used at University of Arizona Online.
Sadia Saifuddin on LinkedIn · Mar 2026
Status update noting that Risely had deployed agents for advising, advancement, and enrollment at three universities and that deployments went live within weeks of kickoff.
Hacker News · Jul 2025
Launch post introducing Risely’s university automation platform and first advising/retention agent, with technical discussion about SIS/LMS/CRM integrations and compliance.
Y Combinator on LinkedIn · Jul 2025
YC’s launch post describes Risely’s AI Advisor, its early customers, and the founders’ backgrounds.
Jobs and careers at Risely AI
0 jobs at Risely AI
No open positions
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