Founded in 2025 by brothers (24) and (20), San Francisco-based Denki aims to build “modern” infrastructure for financial audits, which verify that financial statements are accurate and controls are functioning. The startup wants to help replace manual, “evidence-heavy” processes with software automation that makes audits run more like code.

“Denki helps auditors review and prepare evidence more quickly, document their work more effectively, and test process controls more rigorously,” CEO Felipe told Crunchbase News. “With higher risk coverage and reduced costs, public companies can comply better with financial regulations.”

and co-led the raise, which included participation from , and others. Denki also participated in YC’s Fall 2025 cohort.

The raise comes amid a broader surge in funding to fintech startups, particularly those that apply AI in their offerings. Global funding to VC-backed financial technology startups totaled $52.9 billion in 2025, per Crunchbase . That’s a 27% increase from 2024’s total of $41.6 billion raised.

Interestingly, the most-active investor in the space by far all year, in terms of deal volume, was Denki backer Y Combinator, which participated in 151 fintech startup deals last year. That’s up 24.8% compared to the 121 deals it wrote checks into in 2024.

Landing on capital and an idea

The two brothers grew up in Spain and the U.K. Upon moving to London to study computer science, the pair participated in hackathons organized by , , and VC-sponsored programs, and won several competitions.

“That opened up opportunities, including being offered a $135,000 pre-seed check before we had an idea, which we declined,” Felipe recalls.

The brothers eventually accepted a small angel check from a former staff research scientist at , which gave them a few months of runway to explore ideas before being accepted into the Y Combinator Fall 2025 batch.

“We spent time digging into compliance and landed on audit. It is a technically rich problem, with large volumes of unstructured data, high regulatory stakes and very little modernization in tooling,” Felipe said. “It also connected naturally to what we had each been doing.”

David was building financial data pipelines at — a company trusted by top hedge funds — turning messy data into usable information. Felipe was working on his Ph.D. in explainable AI at , evaluating vision-language models and making black-box systems “interpretable.”

They discovered that a common approach to addressing all the manual work required by auditors was to build Excel extensions designed to make audit work faster.

“We believe it is worth changing the status quo by moving away from Excel as the primary workspace,” Felipe said.

Denki, he said, offers cleaner logs and less room for sample manipulation. Also, because the brothers have a research background, they are “constantly” staying on top of new concerns.

“One major audit risk today is AI fraud,” said Felipe. “There is promising research on detecting forged AI-generated receipts using invisible watermarks, and translating that research into something auditors can actually use is a big part of what we do.”

Denki makes money by offering a tiered SaaS annual contract that depends on the number of controls automated, team size and other integration factors. Its customers are pre-IPO and publicly traded companies.

Building for a ‘high-stress industry’ under scrutiny

Denki’s founders believe their solution is timely. Last year, the imposed the third-highest cumulative penalties in its 21-year enforcement history, totaling $17.7 million, to a report. That was after issuing a record $35.7 million in penalties in 2024. The Jin Li brothers believe those metrics signal that “scrutiny is intensifying even as traditional methods strain under complexity.”

For now, Denki is a two-person company, but it plans to hire engineers and auditors with its new capital.

, Base10 Partners co-founder and managing partner, told Crunchbase News that his firm was impressed by the brothers’ “passion for the industry” and their focus on automating “very discrete tasks” for auditors.

“It was unusual to see such young people so strongly empathetic to issues in auditing but it was clear they were determined to build something great for this industry,” he wrote via email.
“But also it’s a large market that is burdened with labor supply constraints (which is not getting any better), in a high-stress industry with ever increasing scrutiny.”

Related Crunchbase query:

Related reading:

• Fintech Funding Jumped 27% In 2025 With Fewer Deals But Bigger Checks
• Y Combinator Was By Far The Most-Active Fintech Investor in 2025, Data Shows
• Here Are The Fintech Companies That Could Go Public In 2025

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So far this year, the chip designer and most highly valued U.S. public company has made at least 42 investments in private companies, either directly or through its venture arm, per Crunchbase . That’s up slightly from the year-ago period, which was already unusually busy.

As illustrated below, Nvidia wasn’t always such a prolific startup investor. The chip giant began picking up the pace in 2023, and so far it hasn’t looked back.

A penchant for ‘hard tech’

Nvidia’s startup investments this year cover a diverse array of businesses. One thing they share in common, however, is a focus on “hard tech” — solving entrenched, complicated problems with advanced technologies and teams with deep expertise.

In other words, these aren’t mom-and-pop startups anyone could dream up at the kitchen table.

For proof, look at one of the largest rounds that Nvidia backed this year: An $863 million Series B for , which hopes to be first in the world to commercialize fusion power.

Or consider , a quantum computing startup that landed $600 million last month in an NVentures-led round. And don’t leave out , the French GenAI startup that just closed the largest round to date for a European AI company.

The NVentures mission statement is to invest in companies that are “solving complex problems” and it’s not limited by sector. The portfolio today spans from robotics to biotech to . Nvidia is also active in working with very nascent companies, often through its program for AI startups.

Typically, a nonlead role

Although Nvidia has sometimes served as lead investor, typically it does not. This held true in 2025, with the chip giant and its venture arm disclosing a lead role in only five rounds — or roughly 1 in 8 they backed.

Of those, several were rather large. The second-biggest after Quantinuum was a $300 million Series D for , an Israeli enterprise AI startup. Nvidia also co-led a $135 million Series B for , which develops AI software to power robots.

Investing with a broad brush

If we were to generalize Nvidia’s strategy based on its known funding rounds for the past few years, the driving interest appears to be to have a stake in companies likely to play a transformative role in the future of AI technology.

Nvidia has a stake in several of the most-valuable AI companies, including , , and . It also has a number of  power generation-related investments sprinkled in, indicating ongoing concern and interest in how we are going to feed all those power-hungry AI bots.

Related Crunchbase query:

Related reading:

• Nvidia Continues Torrid AI Startup Investment Pace, Outstripping Microsoft And Google

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A combination of factors likely helped drive the uptick, including the threat of tariffs, the rise of artificial intelligence, and continued economic uncertainty.

After dropping substantially last December, job cuts spiked again in February and April this year — totaling more than 38,000 in those two months combined — per the Crunchbase Tech Layoffs Tracker. February saw more than 14,000 layoffs while April surged to 23,850, with both large-cap tech companies and startups reducing staff.

In May, we saw a total of 57,422 layoffs. That compares to 95,177 in all of 2025. So far in June, at least 923 U.S. tech workers have been laid off, per Crunchbase data.

Executive coach said layoff trends this year are following closely those of last year.

“Companies are doing layoffs when they need to for financial reasons, if they pivot their company — so they’re laying off in one area while hiring in one area — and as a way to handle performance issues that have been put off,” she told Crunchbase News.

Cohn also pointed out that many startups that raised money during peak ZIRP years are now scrutinizing their runways and coming up against the challenges of fundraising again.

“Those companies are definitely re-orging and laying people off,” added Cohn, who is also the author of “From Start-up to Grown-up” and has such as , and .

Companies cutting

In recent months, we’ve seen a number of Big Tech and publicly traded companies, as well as startups, make deep cuts.

But interestingly, public tech companies have dominated layoff headlines as of late.

In the past few months alone, laid off 220 employees, let go of 100 employees, and has laid off at least 425 workers, by our count. let go of 6,000 workers, or about 6% of its staff, in May, followed by more than 300 again this month. has slashed at least 200 jobs in recent months. ’s cuts have been among the largest among tech companies this year, with 22,000 of its workers losing their jobs in late April and an unspecified number again this month.

Those Big Tech layoffs may be setting the tone for smaller tech companies and startups.

Despite signs of a comeback year, fintech as an industry has continued to see struggles at both private and public players. Startup laid off an unspecified amount of workers while , which went public in 2020, let go of 7% of its workforce. , which makes software designed to streamline lending operations, also reportedly laid off an unspecified number of its staff.

But it appears no sector has been immune. In May, edtech company laid off 248 employees and cybersecurity outfit let go of 500 employees.

Job openings down, applications up, and AI’s role

As evidence of how tough it is out there, , a hiring platform for college students, recently released a noting that the class of 2025 is graduating “into the most competitive job market in years.”

According to a spokesperson, job postings on Handshake have declined 15% over the past year, while the number of job applications per job has increased by 30%.

“This is consistent with broader trends we’re seeing in the macro data and other job platforms,” the spokesperson said.

Cohn agrees it’s a tight market.

“I’m definitely seeing companies slow down their hiring and people who are looking for jobs are looking for longer,” she told Crunchbase News.

Cohn believes the increased interest and use of artificial intelligence is part of the overall uncertainty and contributes to the trend of companies being slow to hire. And, the impact of that uncertainty is significant, in her view.

However, she doesn’t see AI taking over so many jobs that it’s leading to more layoffs — for now at least.

“I think it’s obvious that we need to keep an eye on that, and AI may contribute directly to job loss and layoffs in the months and years ahead,” Cohn said.

Handshake believes it’s too early to tell the impact of AI on the job market.

“What we have noticed is an increase in employers seeking talent with AI knowledge and skills,” the spokesperson said, noting that mentions of gen AI tools in job descriptions have increased more than 4x in the past two years.

Methodology

Layoffs figures are from The Crunchbase Tech Layoffs Tracker, where we record reported job cuts at U.S. tech employers. The tracker includes layoffs conducted by U.S.-based companies or those with a strong U.S. presence — both privately and publicly traded — and is updated at least bi-weekly. Layoff and workforce figures are best estimates based on reporting. Actual layoff figures are likely much higher than reported as many companies do not disclose the number of jobs cut when announcing layoffs. For more about our methodology for tracking layoffs, refer to the tracker’s methodology section.

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This morning we’re back to annual recurring revenue (ARR), a metric that modern software companies love to report. It’s a forward result, a calculation of the amount of subscription revenue a startup can expect on an annualized basis. If your company did $5 million in monthly subscription revenue in July, you have $60 million of annual recurring revenue.

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The prominence of ARR makes it a critical concept to understand if you track quickly-growing private companies, and doubly so if you care about tech startups. They’re mad for the stuff. In that vein, I asked startups — tongue in cheek, mostly — to send in their ARR growth from the first half of 2019 (H1 2019) compared to the same period of 2018.

A few people did, which is fun. We’ll share those results first, and then put them into context using some public earnings results from yesterday.

Startup Results

You can still send in your H1 2019 ARR growth, as I’m accepting emails all weekend on the matter. So feel free to mail in your brag or confession to alex@crunchbase.com. We appreciate the clarity real numbers bring. Candor is good!

In that vein, here’s what was sent in:

• wrote that its “growth rate in ARR from H1 2018 to H1 2019 was 691 [percent],” which is quite good. We can presume that Uselytics didn’t have the World’s Largest revenue base at the start of 2018, but putting up nearly 700 percent growth is impressive. That’s a high watermark, frankly.
• wrote in, saying that it had “50 [percent] YOY growth rate which we just released today,” including a link to . Given that we specifically requested H1 2019 ARR growth over an H1 2018 result, we’re presuming that this metric fits the ask. Signal Vine has according to Crunchbase and is based in Virginia.

A 50 percent growth result, mind, isn’t slow. From a reasonable revenue base, that can be an impressive result. (Hold onto that number until we get to Okta’s details.)

I’d like to see more companies share more metrics, as it would help demystify the startup world some and reduce the stress that top-decile numbers can bring. Everyone in the startup world hears about the companies that are growing like hell, but fewer folks hear about startups that are merely doing well.

Now, let’s put our two startup numbers (more here, mind) into context.

Earnings Reports

Yesterday brought a raft of SaaS earnings to the public, with and and reporting, among others. Results among the ARR-creating firms were a bit mixed. Let’s get an overview of each result set, quickly.

I spoke with Okta’s co-founder and COO after the company reported its results, but before its earnings call. The company revenue growth of about 50 percent, rising sales and marketing spend, as well as minor increases to its net and operating losses.

Kerrest described the results as in-keeping with the firm’s vision for its future that it set a few years back. Okta has plenty of cash and generated around $20 million in operating cash flow in the first half of calendar 2019. And, the COO told Crunchbase News that the size of its largest 25 contracts in the second quarter of 2019 was twice as large as the same result from a year ago.

Shares of Okta are off about 6 percent this morning. Why, is the question. I’d reckon that Okta’s somewhat modest projection for sequential-quarter revenue growth is the issue.

Box, in contrast, is up a point this morning after far more modest revenue growth. But in contrast to Okta, which has seen its share price appreciate in recent quarters, Box is trading at its lowest levels since late 2016. So there’s some mismatch in context for the two companies’ earnings results.

Note, however, that the faster-growing company has had better recent public market results. ARR growth is still investor catnip, even this far into the bull cycle.

The growth point was welcome to Zuora investors this quarter, with the SaaS firm’s SaaS-focused product better than expected forward revenue guidance. That boosted growth expectation sent, and recent results, sent Zuora’s equity up over 6 percent this morning.

Summing quickly since this post has gone on longer than I meant it to, startup ARR growth rates are generally faster than those of their public counterparts. But the same mechanics and tension between growth, profit, and valuation work on both sides of the public-private divide.

Perhaps each earnings season we can get a few startups to disclose some of their performance to go along with our regular, summary glance at public company results.

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