The controversy surrounding compliance startup Delve has escalated further this week. Among the new allegations from the anonymous whistleblower known as DeepDelver is the claim that Delve allegedly took an open source tool and misrepresented it as its own creation without proper license attribution or financial arrangement with the original developer.
The situation unfolded when the Delve team demonstrated a no-code tool named Pathways to a prospective client, who later became the whistleblower DeepDelver. DeepDelver noted Pathways’ resemblance to Sim.ai’s open source product SimStudio and inquired if Pathways was based on SimStudio. Delve maintained that they developed it independently, according to the whistleblower.
DeepDelver then provided supposed evidence indicating that the tool was actually a fork — a modified copy — of SimStudio, slightly altered to appear as Delve’s original work. If verified, this would breach the Apache software license, which requires acknowledgment of the original developer.
DeepDelver describes this as “stealing intellectual property,” though open source tools can be used freely provided they are credited. The irony is that Delve, a startup offering a compliance solution, might have violated a software license itself.
Sim.ai’s founder and CEO, Emir Karabeg, confirmed to TechCrunch that he responded to DeepDelver’s inquiries about the allegations. He informed the whistleblower that Delve did not have a license agreement with Sim.ai.
“We were aware they intended to use Sim for something and later attempted unsuccessfully to sell them an agreement,” Karabeg told DeepDelver. “I didn’t anticipate they would market it as a stand-alone product.”
Adding to the discomfort: Sim.ai was a Delve customer, Karabeg told TechCrunch. Both companies were participants in the startup accelerator Y Combinator, and alumni often purchase each other’s products. So while Sim.ai paid Delve, Delve did not reciprocate financially for Sim.ai’s product.
Karabeg initially sympathized with Delve after DeepDelver accused Delve of falsifying customer data and using non-reliable auditors last week, which Delve denied.
Since the Sim.ai allegations surfaced, Karabeg has not heard from Delve’s founders. “I was offering support to my friends at Delve after the first allegations, but since learning of this, we haven’t communicated,” he informed TechCrunch.
Delve’s alleged actions preceded its Series A funding round led by Insight Partners, according to the whistleblower. We’ve contacted Insight Partners regarding this issue and their due-diligence process.
Insight Partners’ 2025 blog post explaining their $32 million investment in Delve was briefly removed from their site. The firm’s LinkedIn announcement about the investment has not yet been restored.
References to the Pathways tool and several other pages on Delve’s site appear to have been removed. Delve did not respond to a request for comment, and the contact address on its website no longer functions.
Allegations that Delve may have infringed upon an open source license of a customer and friend sparked intense backlash on X, making it a trending topic <a href