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YCS25· AI

Risely AI

AI agents that automate administrative work across college campuses.

ActiveChecked 18h ago
Batch
S25
Status, per YC
Active
Team size
8
HQ
San Francisco, CA
In S25166 companies, 92% AI
risely.aiYC profile LinkedIn

Founders

  • Shahryar AbbasiFounder/CEO
  • Sadia SaifuddinFounder/CPO

Same space

About Risely AI

Risely’s AI agents will form the new operating system for universities, improving retention, staff productivity, and efficiency. Our platform integrates directly into existing university systems (SIS, LMS, CRM), learns each institution’s unique workflows, and deploys specialized AI agents. This dramatically reduces the $735 billion universities spend annually on administrative labor, expands staff capacity without increasing headcount, and improves the student experience. This hasn't been done before because university workflows require nuanced, autonomous judgment, exactly what agentic AI was designed to solve. Our team uniquely combines deep expertise in higher education, enterprise-scale AI, and regulated enterprise sales. Sadia previously built Salesforce’s Education Cloud from scratch, creating the core Student Information System widely used across higher education. She deeply understands university operations and maintains trusted relationships with hundreds of higher-ed CIOs and Provosts. Danial was one of DoorDash’s earliest engineers, where he architected and scaled complex systems from zero to billions of transactions, including their search, recommendation, and Voice AI platforms. He knows how to build robust AI solutions that reliably perform at enterprise scale. Shahryar was a GM at Airwallex, where he built the entire Americas business from 0 to 1 and drove 11x revenue growth. He’s also a master closer, single-handedly securing over $17M in enterprise deals at NerdWallet. He’s a relentless startup executor with deep expertise launching and scaling go-to-market machines in highly regulated industries. We launched six weeks ago and are already at $8k MRR, growing 55% week-over-week -- one of the fastest ramps ever in higher ed. Universities urgently need solutions that expand labor capacity and efficiency, especially as they face unprecedented budget pressure and staffing shortages. With unmatched buyer access, deep technical expertise, and rapid early traction, we are perfectly positioned to own this enormous market.

San Francisco, CA, USA

Risely AI: questions

Which YC batch was Risely AI in?

Risely AI was in Y Combinator's Summer 2025 batch (S25).

Is Risely AI still active?

Y Combinator lists Risely AI as active.

Who founded Risely AI?

Risely AI's founders, as listed on its YC page: Shahryar Abbasi (Founder/CEO), Sadia Saifuddin (Founder/CPO).

Where is Risely AI based?

Risely AI lists San Francisco, CA, USA as its location on YC's directory.

Not affiliated with Y Combinator. From YC's public directory. Logos via logo.dev; trademarks belong to their owners.

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