# Risely AI

> Risely builds AI agents for higher education that automate admissions, enrollment, financial aid, bursar and student accounts, academic advising, retention, and advancement, working 24/7 inside a college or university's existing systems. Y Combinator S25. $3.6M seed raised. Based in San Francisco, CA.

Risely ships three agent products, each aimed at a different office on campus: a Retention Agent for student retention and early-warning intervention, an Enrollment Agent for admissions and yield, and an Advancement Agent for fundraising and prospect research. All three read signals a school already owns (SIS, CRM, LMS, financial aid systems) rather than requiring a new database, and hand staff a prioritized, ready-to-act brief instead of a raw data dump.

## Product

- [Advancement Agent](https://www.risely.ai/ai-advancement): AI fundraising agent for higher education. Automates prospect research, donor identification, cultivation tracking, and gift proposal drafting, multiplying an advancement office's capacity without new headcount.
- [Retention Agent](https://www.risely.ai/ai-retention): AI student retention agent. Monitors academic, financial, and engagement signals to detect at-risk students before they drop out, and triggers timely interventions.
- [Enrollment Agent](https://www.risely.ai/ai-enrollment): AI admissions and enrollment agent. Manages the funnel from first inquiry to enrolled student, engaging prospects 24/7 and optimizing yield.

## Evidence

- [Case Studies](https://www.risely.ai/case-studies): Quantified outcomes at real institutions, including 32x more proactive student outreach at a public university in Arizona, 9x capacity per enrollment specialist at NSAD, and 4x prospect research capacity at Westmont College.
- [AI Prospect Research for Advancement Teams](https://www.risely.ai/blog/article/ai-prospect-research-advancement/): How Westmont College's one-person prospect research function cut the time to assemble a donor brief from about an hour to 31 minutes, and produced 121 prospect briefs in twelve weeks, using the Advancement Agent.
- [Donors Down, Dollars Up](https://www.risely.ai/blog/article/donors-down-dollars-up-concentration-crisis/): Analysis of the higher-ed major-gift concentration crisis, FY2025 donor counts falling for a fourth straight year while 89% of funds came from 2% of donors.

## Company

- [Risely AI](https://www.risely.ai): Homepage, product overview, and company narrative.
- [Careers](https://www.risely.ai/careers): Open roles on the founding team.