Chariot Builds DAF Payment Infrastructure and Expands New York Engineering Team
Chariot operates payment infrastructure built specifically for donor-advised funds (DAFs), connecting nonprofits directly to philanthropic accounts. Founded in 2022, the New York-based fintech company built DAFpay, a 3-click DAF payment option that integrates into donation forms. The platform connects to over 85% of the $250 billion DAF market and serves more than 50,000 onboarded nonprofits, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the American Cancer Society, and the Boys & Girls Club of America, as well as fundraising platforms like GoFundMe and Givebutter.
Leadership and Investor Backing
The company was co-founded by Chief Executive Officer Salomon Serfati, Chief Product Officer Drew Schneider, and Chief Operating Officer Aaron Kahane. Prior to Chariot, Salomon Serfati worked as a backend engineer at BlackRock and was a founding engineer at Forage (YC S21) after studying computer science at the University of Pennsylvania. Both Drew Schneider and Aaron Kahane joined from Bain & Company, where Schneider led software system due diligence for healthcare providers and Kahane analyzed tech and telecom equities for a $100B+ hedge fund.
Chariot graduated from Y Combinator's S22 cohort and raised an $11 million Series A round led by Maveron, as reported by citybiz. Following the round, Maveron co-founder Dan Levitan joined Chariot's board. Additional investors include Spark Capital, SV Angel, Y Combinator, Haystack, Scrum Ventures, Uncork Capital, Maven Ventures, and angel investors Adam Grant, Angela Duckworth, and Mike Massaro.
Research and Recent Product Launches
In early 2026, Business Wire reported that Chariot launched the first gift processing platform designed for nonprofits. The product release followed a benchmark study conducted with K2D Strategies and published in 01net. Analyzing over $10 billion in fundraising across 78 million transactions from 2019 to 2023, the report revealed that donors who adopted a DAF nearly doubled their annual giving to the same nonprofit, increasing contributions by 96%.
Technical Architecture and Hiring Strategy
Chariot's tech stack uses Vue.js, React, and Tailwind CSS on the frontend. The backend relies on Go, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Docker, and Kubernetes running on AWS infrastructure. The company operates a 24-person team in New York City with an in-person culture and flexible work-from-home policy.
To scale its processing engine, the engineering department is hiring a Software Engineer, Agentic Infrastructure, a Backend Engineer, Payments, and a Site Reliability Engineer. On the product and go-to-market side, Chariot is actively recruiting a Head of Product alongside a senior Product Marketing manager.
Open Roles at Chariot
| Role | Location | Work Mode | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head of Product | New York City | Onsite | $275,000 - $350,000 / year |
| Product Marketing | Chariot HQ | Onsite | $175,000 - $215,000 / year |
| Content Marketing | Chariot HQ | Onsite | $125,000 - $165,000 / year |
| Implementations | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $120,000 - $170,000 / year |
| Site Reliability Engineer | Chariot HQ | Onsite | $180,000 - $230,000 / year |
| Software Engineer | Chariot HQ | Onsite | $180,000 - $230,000 / year |
| Software Engineer, Agentic Infrastructure | Chariot HQ | Onsite | $180,000 - $230,000 / year |
| Backend Engineer, Payments | Chariot HQ | Onsite | $180,000 - $230,000 / year |
| Nonprofit Partnerships | Chariot HQ | Onsite | $200,000 - $300,000 / year |
| Senior Product | Chariot HQ | Onsite | $190,000 - $240,000 / year |
| Mid-Market Account Executive | Chariot HQ / New York, NY, US | Onsite | $200,000 - $300,000 / year |
| Partnerships | Chariot HQ / New York, NY, US | Onsite | $200,000 - $300,000 / year |
| Backend Engineer | Chariot HQ / New York, NY, US | Onsite | $180,000 - $230,000 / year |
| Chariot Labs Engineer | Chariot HQ / New York, NY, US | Onsite | $180,000 - $230,000 / year |
