# Dakotah Rice

> Dakotah Rice is the co-founder and CEO of Harper, an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage based in San Francisco and part of Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch. After a Wall Street run through Goldman Sachs, The Carlyle Group, and Coatue Management, Rice built and wound down the fintech startup Poolit before returning to the insurance industry his family worked in. In February 2026 Harper announced a combined seed and Series A of roughly $47M led by Emergence Capital, reported as the largest publicly disclosed Series A ever raised by a Black founder. Harper matches small- and mid-sized businesses with 160+ carriers and serves thousands of customers across dozens of states.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Harper
- **Organizations:** Harper (YC W25), Poolit, ByteDance, Coatue Management, The Carlyle Group, Goldman Sachs
- **From:** Alabama, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA, Political Science, Brown University, MBA (attended), Harvard Business School
- **Known for:** Raised what was reported as the largest publicly disclosed Series A ever by a Black founder (~$47M combined seed and Series A), Scaled Harper to 5,000+ (later 6,000+) customers across dozens of states in roughly one year, Built Poolit fintech platform to approximately $100M in assets under management

## Career timeline

- **2016** — Graduates from Brown University with a BA in Political Science
- **2016** — Joins Goldman Sachs as an investment banking analyst on the Technology, Media & Telecommunications team
- **2017-2020** — Investing roles at The Carlyle Group and Coatue Management, focused on internet and media
- **2020** — Investor at ByteDance
- **2021** — Begins MBA at Harvard Business School and founds Poolit, a fintech platform for investing in PE/VC funds
- **2023** — Winds down Poolit after it scaled to roughly $100M AUM
- **2024** — Co-founds Harper with Tushar Nair (former Poolit CTO); names it after his mother's maiden name
- **2025** — Harper joins Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch
- **2026** — Announces ~$47M combined seed and Series A led by Emergence Capital

## Achievements

- Raised what was reported as the largest publicly disclosed Series A ever by a Black founder (~$47M combined seed and Series A)
- Scaled Harper to 5,000+ (later 6,000+) customers across dozens of states in roughly one year
- Built Poolit fintech platform to approximately $100M in assets under management
- Series A led by Emergence Capital, with Y Combinator, Lobster Capital and Peak XV Partners participating

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Harper announced a combined seed and Series A of roughly $47M led by Emergence Capital, reported as the largest publicly disclosed Series A by a Black founder.
- **2026-06** — Harper reports 6,000+ companies served with 98.78% client retention and expanded coverage lines including cyber, commercial auto, property and bonds.

## Links

- Website: https://harperinsure.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dakotahrice
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/DakotahBlueRice

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dakotah-rice
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-14