Ryan Williams Raises $10M for AI Startup Ellis Serving Private Credit

Ellis AI emerged from stealth on Thursday after securing $10 million in seed funding from investors including First Round Capital, 645 Ventures, Harlem Capital, Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, Slow Capital, Kearny Jackson and Ariel Alternatives CEO Mellody Hobson.

The startup is building AI agents designed to streamline the complex and fragmented workflows used by private credit managers, who often rely on multiple software platforms, spreadsheets, documents and email correspondence to manage investments.

Ellis was founded by Ryan Williams, who previously co-founded real estate investment platform Cadre with Josh and Jared Kushner in 2014.

Cadre raised more than $160 million in funding, reached a peak valuation of $800 million and was acquired by alternative investment firm Yieldstreet in 2024 for an undisclosed amount.

AI platform aims to simplify private credit operations

Williams said his experience at Cadre exposed a major weakness in private markets.

“At Cadre, I saw the next major constraint,” Williams said. “Even as the front end of private markets became more modern and accessible, the operating infrastructure underneath it remained fragmented.”

He began developing Ellis last year to bring together the various software systems, accounting records and documents used by private credit firms into a single platform.

The system is designed to identify inconsistencies in data while deploying AI agents to assist with portfolio monitoring, reporting and other operational tasks.

Williams said the platform can also help firms complete time-consuming month-end processes such as closing a fund’s books.

“A team may have to download files from several systems, reformat the data, compare balances, investigate discrepancies, and re-enter information by hand. In many firms, Excel becomes the operating system,” he explained.

Rather than replacing existing systems, Ellis connects with the software and documents firms already use, allowing customers to integrate AI without rebuilding their technology stack.

Humans remain part of the decision-making process

Williams said the company is intentionally keeping people involved in important decisions.

“Material decisions and actions remain with the human experts,” he said.

Although he expects AI to automate more work over time, Williams does not believe human oversight will disappear entirely.

“I expect the human loop to become narrower, but not disappear,” he said when asked whether the platform could eventually operate fully autonomously.

According to Williams, the company’s goal is not to replace investment professionals but to reduce repetitive administrative work so they can make better-informed decisions more quickly.