Harsha Ramesh is Co-Founder and CEO at Pillar, an AI-powered financial risk management platform that automates hedging for commodity-driven businesses. Pillar raised $20 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and has raised $23 million total to date.

Harsha studied at Vanderbilt University and worked as an AVP in EMFX Asia Trading at Barclays Investment Bank for 3 years, managing large derivatives portfolios. He also served as GM, West Coast US at Oliver Space and worked as an Equity Research Analyst at Avondale Partners.

Harsha previously worked as a macro trader, collaborating with companies in the global hedging ecosystem for currency and interest-rate risks. He identified a gap where sophisticated institutions had advanced risk management tools while actual manufacturers and traders had little access to such infrastructure.

Pillar serves clients including Shibuya Sakura Industries, Sigma Recycling, and United Metal Solutions Group, using AI to continuously analyze exposure across commodities, foreign exchange, and freight. The platform automates what once required a full trading desk, making institutional-grade risk management accessible to small and mid-sized businesses.

Founded in 2023, Pillar transforms hedging from a static, periodic decision into a continuous, autonomous system. The company aims to make hedging as accessible and ubiquitous as payments or accounting software, democratizing financial risk tools for commodity traders, manufacturers, and importers navigating unprecedented market volatility.