The rise of AI compliance startups in 2025
AI compliance startup Delve has quickly become one of the fastest-growing companies in the regulatory tech space. Founded by MIT dropouts Karun Kaushik and Selin Kocalar, the company uses AI agents to automate regulatory frameworks like HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI, and GDPR. After raising a $3 million seed round in early 2025, Delve just announced a $32 million Series A round at a $300 million valuation — an astounding 10x jump in less than a year. The funding was led by Insight Partners, a top-tier VC known for backing high-growth SaaS and enterprise startups, with support from Fortune 500 CISOs who clearly see the value in automating tedious compliance workflows. As the regulatory landscape tightens globally, interest in startups like Delve is surging — and the company is scaling rapidly to meet demand.
Image Credits:Delve
How two MIT dropouts pivoted to disrupt compliance
Kaushik and Kocalar first met as MIT freshmen with a shared passion for AI and healthcare. During the pandemic, Kaushik had already built a COVID diagnostic tool used by thousands. In 2023, the duo worked on an AI medical scribe to support doctors with patient notes — but HIPAA compliance quickly became a bottleneck. Realizing how painful and expensive it was for health tech startups to stay compliant, they made a bold pivot: instead of fixing documentation, they would automate compliance itself. That shift led them to Y Combinator, where they rapidly built tools to handle HIPAA processes for other startups. As more customers signed on, the demand expanded beyond healthcare into fintech and enterprise AI — where frameworks like SOC 2, GDPR, and PCI are mission-critical for scaling. This natural evolution pushed Delve from a niche tool into a full-fledged AI compliance platform.
Why AI compliance startups are gaining investor attention
What sets Delve apart from other compliance automation platforms is its use of AI agents to continuously scan, monitor, and update a company’s security and compliance posture. Instead of static checklists or manual audits, Delve’s system works in real time, flagging issues, updating controls, and even guiding employees through compliance steps with generative AI tools. That’s a game-changer for fast-scaling startups that can’t afford the slow pace of traditional GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) processes. Investors have taken notice. Insight Partners led the $32M round not just because of the technology, but because Delve already has over 500 customers — including other fast-growing AI companies like Lovable and Wispr Flow. With so many companies now needing SOC 2 or ISO 27001 to close enterprise deals, Delve’s timing couldn’t be better.
The future of Delve and the AI compliance category
With this new funding, Delve plans to accelerate product development, expand support for global frameworks like ISO and GDPR, and grow its go-to-market team. The co-founders are also thinking ahead to a world where AI compliance becomes proactive, not reactive — where systems adapt in real time as regulations change or as a company adds new products. In many ways, Delve is building the “AI co-pilot for compliance,” saving hundreds of hours for security teams and unlocking enterprise growth for startups. As more regulations emerge around AI usage itself, from the EU AI Act to new U.S. frameworks, companies like Delve are becoming indispensable. For a startup born from a compliance pain point, their rapid growth is proof that tackling the boring stuff — like audits and paperwork — with cutting-edge AI can be a billion-dollar opportunity.
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