Helly Shah

Helly Shah is the co-founder and CTO of Ralo, the AI-native mortgage brokerage (YC Spring 2025) — ex-Google Maps engineer, ex-Goldman Sachs quant, licensed mortgage professional (NMLS #2695701).

She and co-founder Arjun Lalwani run Ralo as a two-person team by automating most of the traditional mortgage back office. They entered the industry in 2025 with Approval AI, a mortgage-shopping platform, then became a licensed brokerage and relaunched as Ralo in June 2026 with a $2.9M seed round. The company has been covered by The New York Times, HousingWire, Forbes, and Business Insider. She is a second-generation real estate builder and lives in New York City.

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Current

Previously

Education

Selected Press

• The New York TimesJuly 17, 2026Features the founders

  America’s Enterprising Spirit Is Booming After Decades-Long Slump

• HousingWireAugust 25, 2026Bylined by Helly

  The loan officer engineer: The $11,898 problem

• HousingWireJune 18, 2026Features the founders

  AI mortgage broker Ralo launches, raises $2.9M seed round

• ForbesJune 9, 2025Features the founders

  The Most Promising Startups From the First-Ever YC Spring Batch

• The Peaking PodcastAugust 13, 2025Helly interviewed

  Revolutionizing Mortgages with AI

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