$10M+ · PropTech + Ellis

What they're building

Ellis is an AI-native operating system for private credit managers — the multi-trillion-dollar market of funds lending to businesses. Today these firms run critical workflows across disconnected fund-administrator reports, general ledgers, loan-servicing systems, bank data, legal documents, and spreadsheets; teams burn time reconciling different versions of the same data, which delays fund closes and investor reporting. Ellis connects to the systems and documents a firm already uses, builds a reconciled, source-verifiable data foundation, flags discrepancies, and deploys purpose-built AI agents (under human supervision) for tasks like portfolio monitoring, closing the books at month-end, and preparing LP reports.

Why this matters

First Round leading, with an angel roster of Mellody Hobson, Josh Kushner, and Immad Akhund, is serious validation. The real signal is founder Ryan Williams: he co-founded Cadre with the Kushners in 2014, raised $160M+, and reached an $800M valuation. He's explicit that at Cadre he saw the front end of private markets modernize while the operating infrastructure underneath stayed fragmented — the gap Ellis attacks. First Round's Josh Kopelman notes fintech innovation focused on the front office while operational infrastructure barely changed.