# Variance

> Variance builds investigative AI agents that automate risk and compliance work for banks, fintechs, and Fortune 500 platforms - handling KYC, KYB, AML, transaction monitoring, and fraud investigations that would otherwise take teams of analysts days to complete. Founded in 2023 by ex-Apple fraud engineers Karine Mellata and Michael Lin (originally as the trust-and-safety startup Intrinsic), the company raised a $21.5M Series A in March 2026 led by Ten Eleven Ventures.

- **Founded:** 2023
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founders:** Karine Mellata (Co-Founder & CEO), Michael Lin (Co-Founder & CTO)
- **Team size:** ~16 employees
- **Products:** Investigative AI Agents, KYC / KYB & Customer Due Diligence, Transaction Monitoring & AML, Fraud Review & Investigations, Intrinsic (Trust & Safety tooling)
- **Notable:** Raised a $21.5M Series A in March 2026 led by Ten Eleven Ventures, Grew from a Y Combinator Winter 2023 batch startup to serving Fortune 500 compliance teams, Successfully pivoted from trust-and-safety (as Intrinsic) to financial crime and compliance

## Products & services

- **Investigative AI Agents** — Autonomous AI agents that gather context, analyze documents, reason over investigation workflows, and produce auditable case outputs for risk and compliance teams.
- **KYC / KYB & Customer Due Diligence** — Automated Know Your Customer and Know Your Business onboarding and periodic review, including identity and document verification.
- **Transaction Monitoring & AML** — Anti-money-laundering monitoring and alert triage that reduces the manual load of reviewing suspicious activity.
- **Fraud Review & Investigations** — Fraud detection and case investigation infrastructure for marketplaces, platforms, and financial services.
- **Intrinsic (Trust & Safety tooling)** — Original product line: policy management, moderator workflows, data engineering, and content-understanding tools for Trust & Safety teams.

## Achievements

- Raised a $21.5M Series A in March 2026 led by Ten Eleven Ventures
- Grew from a Y Combinator Winter 2023 batch startup to serving Fortune 500 compliance teams
- Successfully pivoted from trust-and-safety (as Intrinsic) to financial crime and compliance
- Earned trust of major platforms including GoFundMe, Reddit, and Bluesky
- Total funding of roughly $33.4M across seed and Series A

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Announced $21.5M Series A led by Ten Eleven Ventures to expand its agentic AI platform for risk and compliance.
- **2026-03** — Axios reports the round exclusively; Variance positions itself as building AI compliance agents for financial institutions.
- **2024-01** — Closed a $3.1M seed round while operating as a trust-and-safety startup.

## Links

- Website: https://www.variance.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/variancesafety
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/variancehq

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/variance
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-10