Formulary Financial, an AI-native fund administrator for private markets, emerged from stealth on 20 January 2026 with a $4.6m seed round led by Khosla Ventures. Acrew Capital, Company Ventures, Human Ventures, Serena Ventures and Alumni Ventures also took part, along with strategic partners and industry executives, according to the company's press release.
Alfia Ilicheva, the founder and chief executive, told Fortune that the round was three times oversubscribed. No valuation was disclosed.
“To modernize fund administration, AI cannot be a feature, it has to be the foundation.”Hari Arul, Partner, Khosla Ventures
What Formulary does
The company provides end-to-end administration for private equity, growth equity and venture capital funds: accounting, reporting, compliance, audit support, capital activity and investor communications. It is based in New York and was founded in 2025, according to the release.
Fortune described the software as AI-powered fund administration for tracking investments, returns and performance and for reporting to limited partners. Ilicheva calls the in-house accountants it supports "bionic accountants", and possible future uses include drafting LP letters and an investor portal.
Fortune quoted Ilicheva asking how it could be that hedge funds are so into the future while private capital markets are so backward. Pulse 2.0, which carried the press release, said she cites her time at Bridgewater Associates as an influence on the company.
The release said Formulary was built by a team of experts in asset management, fund accounting and AI. It described its clients and design partners as managing billions of dollars in assets, without giving a total or any names.
The founder and the market
Fortune reported that Ilicheva spent four years at Bridgewater Associates, then moved to private markets and became chief executive of an Apollo-backed investment platform. She said in the release: "Today, fund administration is defined by manual reconciliation, poor data quality, and massive opportunity cost."
Fortune listed the competition as service providers such as SS&C and Citco, software providers such as Carta, and what it called shadow fund administration, where firms hire outside help but also keep their own books.
Customers and spending
The company said it works with clients and design partners that manage billions of dollars in assets, but it named none and gave no count. Fortune reported that Khosla is not yet using the product.
The release said the seed money will go to product development and to scaling delivery of its fund administration services. The sources do not give a headcount or earlier funding.
Who invested
Hari Arul, a partner at Khosla Ventures, said in the release: "To modernize fund administration, AI cannot be a feature, it has to be the foundation." He told Fortune that the margin of how the business runs looks more like a technology company than a services company.
Ilicheva said her goal was to transform fund administration from a pain point into a strategic advantage for asset managers. She added that when a fund is raised, the dream is to generate alpha by investing capital, not redoing someone's work.
Company website: formulary.ai