Delve's Reputation Takes a Hit With Fresh Open Source Allegations
The controversy surrounding compliance startup Delve has gone from bad to worse this week, with a whistleblower known as DeepDelver alleging that the company passed off an open source tool as its own work without proper attribution.
A new bombshell has dropped in the ongoing controversy surrounding YC startup Delve. A whistleblower, who goes by the pseudonym DeepDelver, has come forward with allegations that Delve, a compliance startup, used an open source tool called SimStudio and passed it off as its own work called Pathways without properly crediting the original developer or having a monetary agreement in place.
The story goes that the Delve team pitched the no-code tool Pathways to a prospect, who would later become the whistleblower DeepDelver. When DeepDelver asked Delve if Pathways was based on SimStudio, the Delve team allegedly said they built it themselves.
However, DeepDelver claims that Pathways is actually a fork of SimStudio, modified just enough to be passed off as Delve's own work. This would be a violation of the Apache software license, which requires the original developer to be credited.
DeepDelver calls this 'stealing intellectual property,' which is a bit of a stretch, since open source tools are freely available to be used if they are properly credited. But the irony is hard to miss: Delve, a startup that purports to sell a compliance solution, may have violated a software license.
Sim.ai's founder and CEO, Emir Karabeg, confirmed to TechCrunch that he answered DeepDelver's questions about the allegations. He told the whistleblower that Delve had no license agreement with Sim.ai whatsoever.
'We knew they planned to use Sim for something and later tried unsuccessfully to sell them an agreement,' Karabeg told DeepDelver. 'I didn't realize they were going to sell it out of the box as a stand-alone solution.'
Adding to the awkwardness: Sim.ai was actually a Delve customer, Karabeg told TechCrunch. Both startups were grads of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, and Y Combinator alumni frequently buy each other's products. So while Sim.ai paid Delve, Delve did not do the same for Sim.ai.
TechCrunch has reached out to Insight Partners, the VC firm that led Delve's Series A funding round, to ask about the allegations and its due-diligence process. We've also reached out to Delve for comment, but the company has not responded.
The allegations have generated so much outcry on X that it has become a trending topic, complete with a scathing community note.
Delve's History of Controversy
Delve has been embroiled in controversy since the whistleblower first came forward last week with allegations that the company was faking customer data and using rubber-stamping auditors. Delve has denied these allegations.
Since learning of the Sim.ai allegations, Karabeg has not heard from Delve's founders. '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,' he told TechCrunch.
Delve's alleged methods preceded its Series A funding round led by Insight Partners, the whistleblower also alleges. We've reached out to Insight Partners to ask about this, and about the venerable VC firm's due-diligence process.
Mentions of the Pathways tool on Delve's site, along with many other pages, appear to have been scrubbed. Delve did not respond to a request for comment, and the media inquiries address on its website no longer works.
The Fallout
The allegations that Delve may have violated an open source license of a customer and, apparently, a friend have generated a lot of outrage on X. The story has become a trending topic, complete with a scathing community note.
The controversy surrounding Delve is a reminder that the tech industry is not immune to the same kind of intellectual property and licensing issues that can affect companies in other industries.
What's Next
TechCrunch will continue to follow this story and provide updates as more information becomes available."