08 Dec From Spreadsheets to AI Agents: Bersella’s Big Bet on Financial Advice

Posted at 13:01h in Digital Innovation, Innovation City Members by

Bersella Advisors is one of the newest additions to the Innovation City community, bringing a fresh approach to financial advice for founders, scale-ups, and fast-growing companies. Led by Co-Founder & CEO Luca Bersella, the firm blends traditional financial expertise with AI-driven advisory models designed specifically for entrepreneurial businesses. In this Q&A, Luca explains why financial planning needs a rethink, how AI will reshape advisory services, and what he hopes to build from inside the Cape Town tech ecosystem.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself: your title, background, and how Bersella Advisors came to be.

Hey everyone, I’m Luca Bersella, Co-Founder & CEO of Bersella Advisors. I’m a CA(SA) by qualification, but I’ve always had a passion for technology. After qualifying, I spent 18 months as a Solutions Architect at a UK fintech before returning to South Africa in late 2024. The primary reason for returning was the opportunity to acquire and run a traditional 35-year-old financial advice firm in Cape Town.

Since I was a teenager, I’ve had a passion for financial markets, so I jumped at the chance to build at the intersection of finance and tech.

Earlier this year, we rebranded to Bersella Advisors, aligning with our vision of building what Y Combinator calls a “full-stack AI startup.”

Q: How would you describe what Bersella Advisors do?

We provide business owners and entrepreneurs with AI-enabled financial advice.

We sell the service, not the software. We’re building a technology platform and AI agents to power our own firm rather than building SaaS for other advisors.

This frees our human advisors to focus 100% of their time on providing strategic oversight and meeting clients, instead of being bogged down in Excel spreadsheets.

We believe this is the practical path to autonomous financial advice.

Q: Who are you building for right now, and what kinds of partners or introductions would be most helpful?

We’re building a suite of financial advice tools to show early adopters how AI can elevate financial advice.

I’m currently looking for a technical co-founder to help us build our platform and pioneer AI-enabled financial advice.

So if you know any talented engineers or hackers hungry to disrupt an industry with a serious case of inertia, please get in touch!

Q: What problem are you solving for founders and scaling companies?

Traditional financial advisors tend to view founders through a single lens: “Do you have R10–20 million in liquid assets for me to manage?” If not, you’re dismissed.

The result is that founders get generic advice that misses the nuances of their situation. We bridge that gap. Because of my qualifications and experiences as a founder myself, I understand both worlds.

For founders:

  • How do you access liquidity from your company tax-efficiently?

  • What happens when there’s an exit?

For scaling companies:

  • How do you set up employee benefits like pre-tax retirement contributions?

  • How do you handle treasury and cash management?

These aren’t questions traditional advisors are equipped to answer.

We provide financial planning and tax strategy without the jargon, specifically for people who are building companies.

Q: What drives your work?

Two things affect every person on Earth:

  • Health

  • Money

But when you look at the state of the financial advice industry, all the incentives are set up to serve the top 1% who have the most money. Personally, I think this is backwards.

What drives me every day is building tech solutions for customers and giving our advisors the tools to make financial advice faster, more accessible, more precise, and more affordable.

Q: How do you see Bersella Advisors growing within the Innovation City ecosystem?

Innovation City brings together exactly the people we’re built to serve: founders and scale-ups with complex financial needs.

We can add immediate value by contributing as an expert advisor:

  • Workshops on founder financial literacy (tax structuring, employee benefits, exit planning)

  • “Office hours” advisory sessions that help early-stage founders avoid expensive mistakes

The VC firms in residence are also valuable connectors; they’re constantly working with portfolio companies that need treasury management, cap table structuring, and financial planning support as they scale.

Being embedded in Cape Town’s tech ecosystem helps us stay sharp on what founders actually need, rather than guessing from the outside.

Q: Favourite place to work from?

I’m a massive fan of 4–5 hour deep-work sessions early in the morning, paired with lighter community-based work in the afternoon.

Long-winded way of saying my favourite place to work (in the afternoon) has become IC!

Q: Secret superpower?

Having a split personality (jock, nerd, etc.) that I can whip out for whatever setting I find myself in.

Q: Next big milestone for Bersella Advisors?

Bringing on a technical co-founder and launching the AI agent platform for our advisors.

Contact Bersell Advisors here: 

Email: [email protected]
Website: Build the Future | Bersella.com
WhatsApp: +27 (076) 412 0295

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