ZeroDrift, a NYC-based provider of an AI-native communication solution, has raised $2 million in a Pre-Seed funding round led by a16z speedrun.
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The company plans to use the funds to launch its go-to-market efforts, expand its product across more communication channels, and continue developing its AI-based compliance engine.
The timing is ideal. Companies in financial services and other regulated industries need to scale digital engagement and automate while adhering to strict communication rules.
Traditional compliance methods—like manual edits, approval queues, and after-the-fact checks—can’t keep up with today’s high message volumes. ZeroDrift replaces these outdated processes with a system that enforces rules in real time, as messages are created.
ZeroDrift’s platform turns regulatory and internal policies into machine-readable rules that are applied instantly within the tools teams already use. Email, browsers, CRMs, social platforms, websites, and automated systems all connect directly to the system. Messages are checked in real time, issues are flagged with suggested fixes and compliant content moves forward without slowing anyone down.
Compliance teams get unified dashboards, full audit trails, and automatically generated, exam-ready records. Business teams get speed without risk. This balance is what founder Kumesh Aroomoogan aimed to achieve, inspired by his time at Accern, where he saw how legal reviews slowed launches and discouraged written communication.
Explaining the challenge, Kumesh said, “Financial services firms are stuck. They want to
move fast, launch campaigns, use AI, and scale communications—but SEC and FINRA rules require every message to be compliant. The old approach—manual edits, compliance queues, and random checks—can’t keep up and slows everything down. ZeroDrift solves this by checking and correcting communications in real time, before they’re sent. Teams can move at full speed because compliance happens automatically—no queues, no bottlenecks, no waiting.
ZeroDrift is starting with financial services, working with RIAs, asset managers, broker-dealers, and wealth platforms. This market includes over 15,000 RIAs and thousands of investment firms that follow strict communication rules. Early benefits include faster campaign launches, increased sales speed, safe use of client-facing automation, and instant exam readiness without last-minute document searches.
The growth of multi-channel communication makes automated compliance even more important. Email, social media, websites, client portals, and automated assistants all have their own rules. Hiring more reviewers isn’t sustainable, so firms that succeed will be those that automate oversight rather than rely on human bottlenecks.
Looking ahead, ZeroDrift aims to expand into insurance, healthcare, ESG disclosures, and wider governance needs. Its long-term goal is to become a universal trust layer for all communication systems, making sure compliance keeps pace as automation grows.
Kumesh also said, “The team of 5 full-time employees is expected to grow to 25 by year-end, mainly adding AI researchers and engineers.” He added, “The 2026 roadmap focuses on financial services, expanding from fact sheets, and pitch books to marketing emails, websites, social posts, RFP responses, and institutional decks.”
“People don’t want to be non-compliant, but they often can’t tell if what they’re writing is okay until it’s too late,” said Kumesh Aroomoogan, founder and CEO of ZeroDrift. “Compliance should guide teams to move faster, not slow them down. Our goal is to make compliance happen automatically, at the speed of work”.
“Compliance has quietly slowed down how fast regulated companies can work,” said Troy Kirwin from a16z Speedrun. “ZeroDrift fixes this, by stopping violations, before they happen and making compliance part of daily workflows.”
Talking about the team, Kumesh said, “Besides me, the founding team includes Ashok Loganathan, Founding Head of Engineering and former Global Head of Engineering at Goldman Sachs, who also co-founded and built core systems for Microsoft Bing. Anand Loganathan, Founding Senior Software Engineer, led development of Google Chrome OS Enterprise and has 18 years of experience at Google, Microsoft, and other companies, including IBM and CDW.”
He added, “Ashok led the development of Goldman’s compliance platforms and had to fire 2–3 employees for sending things externally that they shouldn’t have, simply because they didn’t know the rules. With ZeroDrift, employees would have been warned before sending.”
About ZeroDrift
Founded in 2026 by CEO Kumesh Aroomoogan, ZeroDrift offers an AI powered communication firewall that checks, and corrects content before it’s sent. This gives compliance teams control at scale while letting business teams work quickly. The platform turns SEC, FINRA, and company-specific rules into machine-readable rulepacks and enforces them as content is created. It works directly with the tools teams already use, like email, browsers, CRMs, websites, social platforms, and AI systems.
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