Y Combinator Startup Podcast
This Startup Secretly Detects Fraud For Fortune 500s
Sponsors in this episode
No sponsor reads found in this episode's notes.
Host-read ads that the notes don't mention can't be found this way.
Show notes
In this episode of Founder Firesides, YC Managing Partner Jared Friedman talks to Karine Mellata, co-founder of Variance (W23), who is coming out of stealth and announcing their $21 million Series A.
Variance builds purpose-built AI agents for risk and compliance — automating fraud detection, content review, and identity verification for Fortune 500 companies and platforms like GoFundMe. They discuss why Variance built in the shadows for three years, detecting state-sponsored fraud rings, and the accident that nearly ended the company.
From the show's RSS feed.