NEW YORK, June 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ralo, the first AI-native mortgage broker, officially launched today and announced its $2.9M seed round from Y Combinator, Manresa Ventures, Pack Ventures and angels including Charles Ferguson (Oscar-winning director of Inside Job) and Ryan Frazier (Co-founder & CEO of Arrived). Ralo will use the funds to expand its product offering and launch in additional markets this year.
Buying a home is one of the most expensive purchases a consumer will ever make. Today, borrowers have trouble securing good deals on mortgage rates because of the convoluted, inefficient processes in place and multiple intermediaries involved who charge hefty margins. Outdated, labor-intensive mortgage processes cost lenders nearly $11,800 per loan, with borrowers ultimately footing the bill through higher rates and fees. In addition, most consumers also don’t know that shopping and negotiating for rates can save them tens of thousands of dollars. The end result is that most borrowers leave tens of thousands of dollars on the table.
Ralo leverages AI to automate the entire process with a consumer-first approach. It shops for the best deals across a number of different lenders, and by cutting out all of the intermediaries who take hefty commissions (including loan officers, loan processors, and underwriters), Ralo is able to secure rates that are more than half a point better than the national average, saving customers tens of thousands of dollars.
Additionally, while most lenders take on average 30-45 days to close a mortgage, Ralo can do it on average in 15 days – 3x faster.
Ralo was founded by former Google Product Manager Arjun Lalwani and former Google software engineer and Goldman Sachs quant Helly Shah. They had both faced first-hand the confusing process of homebuying and securing a mortgage.
“The U.S. residential mortgage market is a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity that will almost certainly be transformed by AI,” said Jackson Gates, Managing Partner at Manresa Ventures. “What impresses me most about Helly and Arjun is that they have the design instincts and technical ability to rethink the entire consumer experience and mortgage origination process from the ground up. Ralo is already helping consumers save tens of thousands of dollars while making the process dramatically simpler and less stressful.”
“My co-founder and I experienced firsthand how painful getting a mortgage can be,” said Ralo’s Lalwani. “It felt like we were back in the 90s: emailing PDFs, chasing paperwork, and bouncing between loan officers just to compare rates. We realized AI could reinvent the process and make mortgages faster, less expensive, and much less stressful for borrowers.”
“The mortgage industry hides fees, inflates rates, and tells you cheaper means worse. It’s a lie. Ralo runs on AI loan officers and AI processors that get smarter with every loan, while everyone else is still drowning in paperwork and billing you for it. The result is mortgages that are actually affordable, actually transparent, actually straightforward. Every dollar of that efficiency belongs to the borrower,” said Shah. “The industry’s overhead was never a feature, it was a tax.”
How it Works
When borrowers come to Ralo, they can instantly access personalized mortgage rates: no lengthy applications, phone calls, or back-and-forth required. Borrowers can get pre-approved in minutes and are paired with an AI-powered loan officer that answers questions, guides them from start to finish, and proactively coordinates the mortgage process to eliminate delays and accelerate closing. Human loan officers remain available as needed, creating a hybrid experience built for a new generation of AI-native, tech-forward consumers.
Ralo uses bank-grade encryption standards trusted by major financial institutions, never stores SSNs or sensitive personal data in its database, and ensures private information is never exposed to AI models.
Ralo closed its first loans in March 2026 and is doubling revenue month over month. Currently, Ralo is licensed in the states of California, Colorado and Texas and plans to roll out to more states in the coming months.
About Ralo
Ralo is the first AI-native mortgage broker. It uses AI to shop for deals, eliminate the intermediaries and reduce processing costs, providing consumers with mortgage rates at more than half a point below the national average. Ralo automates the manual work traditionally done by loan officers, handling the back-and-forth with lenders, bringing transparency to the entire process to finally make getting a mortgage easy and affordable. The company is on average 4x less expensive than other brokers, closes mortgages 3x faster, and delivers a radically more efficient experience through automation and its AI loan officer. Founded by former Googlers, Ralo is funded by Y Combinator, Manresa Ventures, Pack Ventures and angels including Charles Ferguson (Oscar-winning director of Inside Job) and Ryan Frazier (Co-founder & CEO of Arrived) and is headquartered in New York City. Learn more at http://ralo.com.
Media contact:
Kerry Metzdorf
Big Swing Communications
978-463-2575
[email protected]
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d3f8bfe5-e84b-4cc3-aabf-863b1c348412