YC Startup Delve’s Reputation Declines Further
▼ Summary
– An anonymous whistleblower alleges Delve took an open-source tool, SimStudio, and presented it as its own product without proper licensing or credit.
– Sim.ai’s CEO confirmed Delve had no license agreement and was surprised they sold the tool as a standalone solution, despite Sim.ai being a Delve customer.
– The alleged action could violate the Apache software license, which requires attribution, creating irony as Delve sells compliance solutions.
– Delve has removed mentions of the implicated tool from its website and is not responding to media inquiries about the allegations.
– The controversy has sparked significant online discussion and scrutiny, including questions about due diligence from Delve’s investor, Insight Partners.
The reputation of Y Combinator-backed compliance startup Delve has deteriorated significantly this week. New accusations from the anonymous whistleblower DeepDelver suggest the company may have improperly used an open source tool. The core allegation is that Delve presented a product called Pathways to a prospective client, who later became the whistleblower. This individual recognized the tool bore a striking resemblance to SimStudio, an open source agent-building platform from another startup, Sim.ai. When questioned, Delve reportedly claimed it had built the software independently.
DeepDelver subsequently provided what they describe as evidence that Pathways was actually a modified copy, or fork, of SimStudio. If verified, this would constitute a breach of the Apache software license governing SimStudio, which mandates clear attribution to the original creators. While labeling this “stealing intellectual property” may overstate the case for a freely available open source project, the potential license violation presents a stark irony. Delve’s entire business is built on selling compliance solutions, yet it may have failed to comply with basic software licensing rules.
Sim.ai’s founder and CEO, Emir Karabeg, confirmed he discussed the situation with DeepDelver. He stated that Delve had no formal licensing agreement with his company. “We knew they planned to use Sim for something and later tried unsuccessfully to sell them an agreement,” Karabeg explained. “I didn’t realize they were going to sell it out of the box as a stand-alone solution.” The situation is further complicated by the fact that Sim.ai was actually a paying customer of Delve’s services, with both companies being alumni of the Y Combinator accelerator program.
Karabeg had initially expressed support for Delve following the first wave of whistleblower allegations last week, which involved claims of falsified customer data and questionable auditors. His stance changed after learning of the Sim.ai issue. “I was consoling my friends at Delve after the first post was released last week, but since I found out about this news we haven’t been in contact,” he noted.
The whistleblower also contends these alleged practices predated Delve’s Series A funding round, which was led by Insight Partners. Questions are now being raised about the venture firm’s due diligence process. Notably, a 2025 blog post from Insight Partners detailing its rationale for leading a $32 million investment in Delve was temporarily removed from the firm’s website. The related LinkedIn announcement has not been restored.
Meanwhile, references to the Pathways tool have been erased from Delve’s website alongside numerous other pages. The company has not responded to requests for comment, and the media inquiries address listed on its site is non-functional. The story has sparked considerable discussion on social media, trending on platform X with a critical community note attached, amplifying scrutiny on the startup’s business practices.
(Source: TechCrunch)
