Founders in Motion with Thea Ngo 
About Shakeel Lala
Shakeel Lala is a co-founder of Marloo, which makes AI software for financial advisers. Its platform writes up client meetings and prepares advice documents, emails, tasks and forms for advisers, paraplanners and support staff in wealth, insurance and mortgage advice.
Lala and co-founder Hardy Michel were managers at New Zealand investing platform Sharesies before starting Marloo in Wellington in June 2024 with Ben Robertson. They secured venture backing before settling on an idea. Blackbird Ventures led an A$4.2 million round in 2025 and a US$10 million seed round in April 2026. Marloo has offices in Sydney, London and New York, and Lala is based in Sydney.
On Founders in Motion with Thea Ngo, he explained how more than 800 conversations with financial advisers over nine months shaped Marloo before any code was written.
- Talks about
- AI, Founder Journey, Fundraising
In conversation.
1 episode
Founders in Motion with Thea Ngo Go straight to the good bits.
Key moments from $40M FinTech Founder on Raising Millions Before He Had a Business Idea | Shakeel Lala, Marloo.
- 1:18Starting a company without a business idea
- 2:563 lessons from 9 months of market discovery
- 9:59What is Marloo?
- 12:38The conference demo
- 15:43How they got VC-backed before finding the idea
- 18:40Pressure, mindset & momentum
- 19:43Building across Sydney, London & Wellington
- 25:29The mission: making financial advice accessible
- 29:20The $10M raise & vision
- 32:38Most valuable founder lesson
The path so far.
- Now
Co-founder · Marloo
- Until 2024 · Scale-up
Manager · Sharesies
Sources: nzherald.co.nz
Marloo on Day One
Marloo makes AI software for financial advisers, paraplanners and their support staff.
1 person · 1 episode
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