Sellara

Round closed 05/26/2026.

Overview

Sellara uses AI to automate trade recap parsing, internal booking, and compliance workflows for institutional sales desks. It replaces manual post-trade entry by extracting key details from trade conversations and integrates with existing systems like Bloomberg and order management systems (OMS) to streamline workflows, reduce errors, and improve compliance.

Core Mission

Sellara automates post-trade workflows for institutional sales desks using AI. By parsing trade recaps, booking trades internally, and validating compliance policies in real time during the booking process, the program replaces fragmented, manual workflows with a seamless, structured system. The goal is to become the trusted infrastructure layer for post-trade automation across the industry.

Short-Term Goal: In the next 6-12 months, Sellara plans to convert pilot partners into paying clients, harden compliance infrastructure (SOC 2 / ISO 27001), and make key hires across engineering and go-to-market. These steps will validate the product, enable onboarding, and support early desk-level expansion.

Long-Term Goal: Over the next 2-5 years, Sellara aims to become the default post-trade automation platform for global institutional finance. This includes expansion into major financial hubs (New York, London, Hong Kong) and the rollout of additional capabilities like compliance tooling and front-office intelligence modules.

Recent Achievements

• Sellara has developed an AI Agent that automates trade recap parsing, internal booking, and compliance workflows for institutional markets desks. The system compresses hours of post-trade work into seconds, saving 10-15% of annual labor costs and reducing millions in ops escalations and booking error corrections.

• The team is targeting a $3B wedge in the ~$30B front-office infrastructure market and is currently in discussions with institutions including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Point72.

  
  

Pain Point

Trade booking at institutional sales desks remains manual, fragmented, and slow, leading to delays, errors, and compliance risks. Salespeople spend 15–20% of their time inputting trade details into outdated systems, contributing to billions in losses from booking mistakes and operational escalations.

Solution

Sellara uses AI to parse trade recaps and automatically generate structured trade tickets. The platform connects with existing systems like Bloomberg and OMS, helping firms eliminate manual booking, reduce errors, and accelerate post-trade workflows without requiring infrastructure changes.

Differentiating Factor

Sellara is purpose-built for institutional sales desks and integrates directly with legacy systems like Bloomberg and OMS, requiring no re-platforming. Unlike legacy or back-office tools, Sellara is AI-native, designed specifically for front-office workflows, and supported by advisors from leading institutions such as Citi, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs, providing a unique advantage in adoption and market insight.

Target Market

Sellara targets banks, brokers, and hedge funds that operate in secondary markets. The product is designed for both buy-side and sell-side institutions and supports front-office workflows as well as back-office compliance and audit workflows.

Sector: B2B FinTech within Financial Services.

Competitors: While there are many tech vendors in the industry, Sellara currently faces no direct competitors offering AI-native, front-office trade recap and booking automation.

Key Metrics

Stage: Pre-Seed

Next Steps:

1. Convert at least two pilot partners into full-time paying clients by the end of 2025.

2. Close $1M SAFE round by the end of August 2025, with final 2 weeks reserved for strategic investors.

3. Finalize legal and compliance infrastructure to meet onboarding requirements at major financial institutions.

4. Hire a customer success lead to support implementation and manage communication with IT and middle office teams.

5. Continue product development with a focus on either expanding into compliance tooling or front-office intelligence modules.

ARR: Currently pre-revenue in the pilot phase. Initial client conversions, expected by late 2025, will establish recurring revenue and validate long-term growth potential across institutional finance.

Market Size

TAM: ~ $3B front-office infrastructure market, with ~15,000 institutional firms globally. Many of these firms operate multi-region desks, allowing a single client relationship to expand across locations such as New York, London, and Hong Kong.

SAM: Banks, broker-dealers, and hedge funds trading in secondary markets that continue to rely on manual booking processes. Sellara's compatibility with platforms like Bloomberg and OMS systems makes it suitable for global trading desks across major regions.

SOM: Current pilot partners and near-term prospects expected to convert within 12-24 months. The initial goal is to convert at least two pilot clients by the end of 2025, with scalable potential across global desks within each institution.

Round Information

Valuation: $10M Pre-Money

Round Status: Actively Raising

Instrument: SAFE

Round Size: $1M

Already Raised: $250K, with $600K soft-circled. Targeting strategic investors before final close.

Ideal Investor: Sellara is seeking angels or strategic investors who bring creative insight and can support scaling in a legacy-driven, complex industry. The team values investor alignment, adaptability, and momentum over holding out for a perfect match.

Funding Allocation

Legal and Compliance - Build the infrastructure needed for onboarding at major financial institutions.

Customer Success Lead Hire - Support client implementation and coordinate with IT and middle office teams.

Product R&D - Advance development toward compliance tooling or front-office intelligence features.

About The Team

First Founder Background:

Charles-André Jolly - Founder & CEO

Georgetown graduate and serial entrepreneur who launched multiple startups during college that reached the market and generated revenue. Wanting to pursue a venture-scale idea, he joined Citibank to gain high-level sales experience, working on both macro credit derivatives and short-term credit desks. Charles started working on Sellara in May 2025.

Second Founder Background:

Spencer Secord - COO

A Georgetown alum with Charles, Spencer worked on the convertible sales desk at Citibank, where a lack of infrastructure led him to teach himself to code. He built internal tools that are still used by the team today. He originally met Charles through Citi's internship mentorship program and joined Sellara in late June 2025 after reconnecting when Charles returned full-time.

Team Highlights:

Charles started working on Sellara in May 2025, and Spencer and the CTO joined in late June. The team has been fully operational since July 1st, 2025, and works remotely, with Charles and Spencer based near each other to collaborate in person as needed.

Additionally, Sellara recently hired a CTO in late June 2025, who is currently relocating from Switzerland to join the team full-time in the U.S. With a strong technical background and prior experience building AI and workflow automation tools, the CTO is focused on developing Sellara's proprietary parsing engine and integration capabilities for legacy trading systems.

Founder Interest:

Charles is a serial entrepreneur and is interested in connecting with strategic investors and angels to close out Sellara's $1M SAFE round.

Fun Fact:

"The company was originally going to be called AXT, a trader term meaning you're eager to buy. The team decided it felt too common, so they pivoted to "Sellara," a blend from a prior idea and the word "sell," and because the domain was inexpensive." - Charles

Bonus Story:

While working on Citi's macro and short-term credit desks, Charles noticed that post-trade ticket booking could take up to half his day. Frustrated with the inefficiency, he left to build Sellara, which is an AI-native platform designed to eliminate that operational drag for every sales desk in institutional finance.

Sellara is headquartered in New York City