YC alums’ brothers land $4.1M to make audits run like code — TFN

Audit know-how startup Denki has raised $4.1 million in funding to modernise the way in which monetary audits are carried out. The spherical was led by Base10 Partners and Shine Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, 20VC and different traders.

Speaking to TFN, Felipe Jin Li, the co-founder at Denki, said: “We aren’t disclosing valuation at the moment.”

Why is the audit business prepared for change?

Monetary audits kind a vital a part of the worldwide financial system’s belief framework. They guarantee monetary statements are correct, verify that inner controls are functioning correctly, and supply traders with confidence within the firm’s disclosures.

Regardless of this central position, a lot of the work nonetheless depends on strategies that resemble processes from the early 2000s. Auditors typically spend lengthy hours gathering proof, organising documentation, and manually verifying controls throughout a number of programs.

On the similar time, stress on the business is intensifying. Regulators are demanding stronger oversight and larger accuracy, whereas corporations face rising complexity in monetary reporting. In america, the Public Firm Accounting Oversight Board issued $35.7 million in penalties in 2024, reflecting heightened scrutiny of audit high quality.

In the meantime, main accounting corporations are reshaping their workforce methods. PwC has introduced plans to chop entry-level hiring by roughly one-third by 2028 as routine duties shift towards automation and offshore operations.

Collectively, these traits have created a second when new instruments are not simply useful however mandatory. 

Constructed by engineers who perceive audit work

Denki was based by brothers Felipe Jin Li and David Jin Li, who mixed technical experience with expertise in finance and analysis.

Earlier than launching the corporate, Felipe labored as a PhD researcher in Explainable AI at College School London after earlier expertise at McKinsey & Firm. David studied pc science at Imperial School London and beforehand constructed monetary knowledge pipelines at MacroHive, utilized by main hedge funds.

Talking concerning the motivation for beginning this firm, he mentioned, “Denki was based to modernise monetary audits and tackle the ‘leverage drawback’ in audit groups.” 

Founders noticed that audit groups spend 80% of their time on guide proof assortment and solely 20% on the train of expert judgment. They recognised this as a market want, relatively than a purely private expertise.

Their shared perception was that the very best audit software program must be constructed by engineers who genuinely perceive how audit work occurs in apply.

Denki additionally took half within the Fall 2025 batch of Y Combinator, serving to refine the platform whereas connecting with early prospects and traders.

Turning audits into structured, collaborative workflows

Denki’s platform goals to remodel how auditors work together with knowledge and documentation. As an alternative of counting on fragmented spreadsheets and static information, the system treats audit procedures extra like structured software program processes. The corporate is constructing a collaborative platform designed particularly for auditors working with public firms. 

The platform permits audit groups to evaluation monetary proof extra shortly, organise documentation extra intelligently and check controls with larger precision. By introducing automation and collaborative instruments, Denki hopes to make audits reproducible, testable and simpler for groups to handle throughout giant organisations.

This method reduces time spent on repetitive administrative duties whereas permitting auditors to deal with judgment-heavy evaluation and threat evaluation.

Denki is designed primarily for audit groups working with pre-IPO and publicly listed firms, the place compliance calls for are highest, and proof necessities are intensive.

How is Denki totally different from the remainder?

The co-founder advised us, “Denki is a collaborative AI platform for auditors. Key differentiators are it automates guide, evidence-heavy processes; makes audits reproducible, testable, and collaborative; allows full-population testing as a substitute of sampling; integrates straight with monetary programs for automated proof assortment; and focuses on releasing auditors to do expert judgment relatively than repetitive duties.”

Trying forward

Detailing the plans for the following three to 5 years, he said the next:

• Rent engineering expertise with audit and finance backgrounds.
• Proceed constructing the platform to assist auditors acquire proof quicker, doc smarter, and check controls with precision.
• Place Denki as the trendy infrastructure customary for monetary audits, particularly as AI adoption grows within the business.

“One of the best audit groups don’t have a expertise drawback—they’ve a leverage drawback,” mentioned Felipe Jin Li, co-founder and CEO of Denki. “They spend 80% of their time pulling proof and matching paperwork, which leaves 20% for the work that requires precise experience: decoding exceptions, assessing threat, advising management. At Denki, we consider that the ratio must be flipped.”

His brother and co-founder, David Jin Li, added, “After we sat with audit groups, we noticed two very several types of work. Deciding what a management failure means, what to escalate, advise administration—that’s expert judgment. Pulling information out of SAP and checking that timestamps match? That’s a pc drawback. The guide work exists as a result of nobody constructed the infrastructure to automate it.”

“Sampling exists in audit as a result of it’s traditionally been too costly to analyse every little thing. That constraint not applies,” mentioned Randy Lund, Chair of Columbia Banking’s audit committee and former KPMG audit companion. “Denki is rebuilding audit workflows round full-population testing, automated proof assortment, and system-level integrations.”

“Felipe and David are constructing Denki at precisely the correct second, when the most important gamers on this business are publicly acknowledging that the previous mannequin is breaking,” mentioned Caroline Broder, Companion at Base10 Companions. “Denki’s platform will assist audit groups acquire proof quicker, doc procedures mechanically, and check controls with larger precision throughout the programs the place monetary knowledge really lives.”