Troubled YC Startup Delve Faces New Allegations of Open Source Violations

Whistleblower claims Delve copied customer's tool and passed it off as its own, violating open source licensing.

Apr. 1, 2026 at 9:23pm by Ben Kaplan

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Delve, a compliance startup that recently raised a $32 million Series A, is facing fresh allegations from an anonymous whistleblower known as DeepDelver. The whistleblower claims Delve violated the open source license of its customer, Sim.ai, by taking the customer's tool called SimStudio and passing it off as its own product called Pathways without proper attribution or licensing agreement.

Why it matters

The allegations against Delve are particularly damaging given the startup's focus on compliance solutions. If proven true, Delve's actions would represent a significant violation of open source software principles and could further erode the company's reputation in the tech community.

The details

According to the whistleblower, Delve pitched its Pathways tool to Sim.ai, a fellow Y Combinator alum, but when Sim.ai's founder Emir Karabeg questioned if it was based on Sim.ai's open-source SimStudio product, Delve claimed they had built it themselves. However, the whistleblower alleges Pathways was actually a modified fork of SimStudio, violating the Apache software license which requires attribution to the original developer.

  • The whistleblower, DeepDelver, first made allegations against Delve last week.
  • Sim.ai's founder Emir Karabeg confirmed speaking with DeepDelver about the new claims this week.

The players

Delve

A compliance startup that recently raised a $32 million Series A round led by Insight Partners.

Sim.ai

An open-source software company and fellow Y Combinator alum that had been a customer of Delve.

Emir Karabeg

The founder and CEO of Sim.ai.

DeepDelver

An anonymous whistleblower making allegations against Delve.

Insight Partners

The venture capital firm that led Delve's $32 million Series A round.

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What they’re saying

“We knew they planned to use Sim for something and later tried unsuccessfully to sell them an agreement. I didn't realize they were going to sell it out of the box as a standalone solution.”

— Emir Karabeg, Founder and CEO, Sim.ai

“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.”

— Emir Karabeg, Founder and CEO, Sim.ai

What’s next

Sim.ai's founder Emir Karabeg said he has not heard from Delve's founders since learning of the new allegations. It remains to be seen if Sim.ai will take any legal action against Delve over the alleged open source violations.

The takeaway

The latest allegations against Delve, if true, would represent a major breach of trust and ethics, especially for a startup focused on compliance solutions. This could further damage Delve's reputation and raise questions about the due diligence process of its high-profile investors like Insight Partners.