Denki

What do they actually do

Denki builds an AI‑assurance platform for internal audit teams at public companies and fintechs. The product is organized as three agents: Walker (keeps a live control map), Guardian (runs continuous control tests and access reconciliations), and Tracer (links GL/sub‑ledgers/ERP and payment data into audit trails, using OCR/vision on supporting documents). It integrates with systems like ERPs, HRIS/IAM, and audit tools, and produces “working papers”/audit packs auditors can review and sign off on (denki.ai, YC profile/launch).

The company is in early commercial rollout with a demo‑ and pilot‑led motion and white‑glove onboarding, signaling pilots/paid pilots rather than broad enterprise deployment at this stage (denki.ai, YC launch).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Head of Internal Audit at a public company (especially fintech): Must show that controls operate effectively and produce audit‑ready evidence quickly; current audits are slow, fragmented, and expensive.
• Internal Audit Manager or Senior Auditor running SOX/control tests: Spends large amounts of time pulling reports, reconciling records, and preparing manual working papers instead of investigating risks.
• Finance/Accounting Controller supporting audits: Needs to tie transactions to invoices, receipts, and approvals across ERPs and payment systems; the process is manual and error‑prone.
• IT / Identity & Access manager: Frequently asked to prove who had access to what and when; reconciling HRIS/IAM with application access typically happens in spreadsheets and is time‑consuming.
• Audit program/tool administrator (e.g., AuditBoard/Workiva user): Struggles to stitch evidence across tools and produce reviewer‑friendly traces; onboarding integrations is resource intensive.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Run founder‑led, white‑glove pilots with internal audit teams at public companies (priority on fintechs) via warm intros to CAEs/Heads of IA and CFOs; scope pilots to deliver a control map plus an audit‑ready working paper in 2–4 weeks to validate accuracy and time savings.
• First 50: Productize the pilot into a 3‑week playbook with prebuilt connectors (AuditBoard/Workiva and common ERPs), hire 1–2 AEs with audit/finance networks, and use early pilot outcomes as references to close similar accounts.
• First 100: Add channel motions with audit tooling vendors and boutique advisory firms, introduce a self‑serve onboarding path for standard connectors, and invest in customer success and security/compliance attestations to smooth procurement and external‑audit acceptance.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Denki sells into the GRC/audit‑automation space. Broad eGRC software estimates range from roughly $39B to $63B in 2024, indicating a "tens of billions" upper bound for governance/risk/compliance spend (Verified Market Research, Grand View Research). Denki’s immediate buyer pool is internal‑audit functions at public companies — a countable universe of about 53,800 listed companies worldwide (Investopedia citing WFE).

Bottom-up calculation:

Illustratively, if Denki targets 10,000 public companies in developed markets and large fintechs, at an average $50k–$100k annual software spend for audit automation, that implies a $0.5B–$1.0B serviceable TAM. Using a narrower category lens, the global audit management software market is estimated at about $1.7B in 2024, providing a conservative reference point for today’s direct category (TBRC).

Assumptions:

• Focus on developed‑market public companies and large fintechs (~10k near‑term reachable from ~53.8k global listed firms) (Investopedia/WFE).
• Average annual software spend per company on audit automation in the $50k–$100k range (varies by size/regulatory scope).
• Denki competes within the narrower audit management/internal‑audit automation slice of the broader eGRC market; internal audit teams are typically 4–24 FTEs, shaping a pilot‑led, higher‑ACV motion (IIA Pulse 2025).

Who are some of their notable competitors

• AuditBoard: End‑to‑end internal audit and GRC platform with AI for scoping, evidence, continuous testing, and reporting; overlaps heavily with Denki’s audit workflow automation and CCM capabilities.
• Workiva: Reporting and compliance platform widely used for SOX, SEC, and audit documentation with AI helpers; competes on control mapping, evidence management, and producing audit‑ready artifacts.
• Hyperproof: Compliance operations and continuous controls monitoring focused on automated evidence collection and control testing across connected systems—direct overlap with Denki’s continuous testing use cases.
• AppZen: AI‑first document and transaction auditing (expenses, invoices, AP) with OCR/document understanding and anomaly detection; relevant to Denki’s Tracer/vision‑based audit trail and exception surfacing.
• Diligent (incl. Galvanize): Broad GRC/audit management suite with control testing, evidence management, and growing AI features for governance and audit teams; overlaps where Denki targets enterprise internal audit programs.