Tech
Delve accused of misleading customers with ‘fake compliance’
An anonymous Substack post published this week accuses compliance startup Delve of “falsely” convincing “hundreds of customers they were compliant” with privacy and security regulations, potentially exposing those customers to “criminal liability under HIPAA and hefty fines under GDPR.”
Delve is a Y Combinator-backed startup that last year announced raising a $32 million Series A at a $300 million valuation. (The round was led by Insight Partners.) On Friday, the startup attempted to refute the accusations on its blog, calling the Substack post “misleading” and saying it “contains a number of inaccurate claims.”
The Substack post is credited to “DeepDelver,” who described themselves as working at a (now former) Delve client.
DeepDelver recounted receiving an email in December claiming the startup had “leaked a spreadsheet with confidential client reports.” While Delve CEO Karun Kaushik apparently assured customers in a subsequent email that they were in compliance and that no external party gained access to sensitive data, DeepDelver said they and other customers had become suspicious.
“Having the shared experience of being underwhelmed with the Delve experience, and having the overall sense that something fishy was going on, we decided to pool resources and investigate together,” they wrote.
Their conclusion? That Delve “achieves its claim of being the fastest platform by producing fake evidence, generating auditor conclusions on behalf of certification mills that rubber stamp reports, and skipping major framework requirements while telling clients they have achieved 100% compliance.”
DeepDelver went into considerable detail about those claims, accusing the startup of providing customers with “fabricated evidence of board meetings, tests, and processes that never happened,” then forcing those customers to “choose between adopting fake evidence or performing mostly manual work with little real automation or AI.”
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DeepDelver also claimed that virtually all of Delve’s clients seem to have gone through two audit firms, Accorp and Gradient, which they described as “part of the same operation,” one that operates primarily in India, with only a nominal presence in the United States.
Those firms, they said, are just rubber-stamping reports that were generated by Delve. As a result, DeepDelver said the startup “inverts” the normal compliance structure: “By generating auditor conclusions, test procedures, and final reports before any independent review occurs, Delve places itself in the role of both implementer and examiner. This is not a technicality. It is a structural fraud that invalidates the entire attestation.”
In addition to accusing Delve of misleading its customers, DeepDelver said the startup is helping those customers “mislead the public by hosting trust pages that contain security measures that were never implemented.”
DeepDelver said that while their company was discussing its issues with Delve, the startup “sent us multiple boxes of donuts […] to keep us happy.” Nonetheless, DeepDelver’s employer supposedly unpublished its trust page and no longer relies on the startup for compliance.
Delve responded to the accusations by saying it does not issue compliance reports at all. Instead, it’s an “automation platform” that ingests information about compliance, then provides auditors with access to that information.
“Final reports and opinions are issued solely by independent, licensed auditors, not Delve,” the company said.
Delve also said that its customers “can opt to work with an auditor of their choosing or opt to work with one from Delve’s network of independent, accredited third-party audit firms.” Those auditors, the startup said, are “established firms used broadly across the industry, including by other compliance platforms.”
In response to the accusation that it’s providing customers with “fake evidence,” Delve countered that it’s simply offering “templates to help teams document their processes in accordance with compliance requirements, as do other compliance platforms.”
“Draft templates are not the same as ‘pre-filled evidence,’” the company said.
Delve added that it is “actively investigating any leaks” and is “still reviewing the Substack.”
Following the initial Substack post, an X user named James Zhou said they were able to gain access to sensitive information from Delve, such as employee background checks and equity vesting schedules. Dvuln founder Jamieson O’Reilly shared more details from what O’Reilly said was a conversation with Zhou about “several gaping security holes in Delve’s external attack surface.”
TechCrunch sent an email seeking additional comment to the media contact address listed on Delve’s website. The email bounced, but I subsequently received a calendar invite for a “Delve demo” later this week. TechCrunch has also reached out to DeepDelver for additional comment.
This post has been updated with additional information about purported security vulnerabilities provided by Jamieson O’Reilly, and additional details about Delve’s response to TechCrunch.
Tech
Roku’s $3 Howdy subscription service launches on Prime Video
Roku announced on Tuesday that Howdy, its $3 ad-free streaming service, is launching on Amazon’s Prime Video. The announcement marks the service’s first expansion outside the Roku ecosystem.
Launched in August 2025, Howdy features a library of nearly 10,000 hours of content from Roku’s partners, including Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Disney Entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery, and FilmRise, alongside select Roku Original titles.
Subscribers can watch titles like “A Haunting in Venice,” “Ice Age,” “Weeds,” and “Kids in the Hall,” as well as rom-coms, medical dramas, ’90s comedies, classics, and more.
At launch, Roku said Howdy was designed to complement, not compete with, premium services.
To sign up for Howdy via Prime Video, you’ll need either an Amazon Prime membership or a standalone Prime Video subscription.
“Our goal has always been to make great entertainment more accessible,” said Gil Fuchsberg, president of Subscriptions, Partnerships, and Corporate Development at Roku, in a press release. “Expanding to Prime Video builds on our momentum and furthers our mission to deliver an ad-free streaming experience at a price that makes it easy for audiences everywhere to enjoy content they love.”
The expansion to Prime Video doesn’t come as a surprise, as Roku CEO and founder Anthony Wood said at CES in January that Howdy would be coming to other platforms.
Roku’s launch of Howdy came two months after the company paid $185 million to acquire Frndly TV, a streaming service that offers live TV, on-demand video, and cloud-based DVR.
Howdy joined the company’s Roku Channel, its free, ad-supported (FAST) streaming service. According to a report from last year, The Roku Channel is the most popular FAST service, ahead of competitors Tubi and Pluto TV. More than 125 million people use the platform every day, Roku says.
Roku released its fourth-quarter earnings for 2025 last month, posting a net income of $80.5 million. The company also announced that it’s going to launch new streaming bundles.
Tech
Ads are coming to Apple Maps, as Apple expands its business offerings
Apple on Tuesday announced that it will begin to allow advertisers to target customers on Apple Maps, starting in the U.S. and Canada later this summer. The ads will be available to any size business that has a physical location and has already created a business listing on Apple Maps. Users, meanwhile, will see the ads appear next to relevant search results.
The ads are part of a revamped business offering Apple is calling Apple Business, which includes an integrated email, calendar, and directory service, as well as tools for managing employee devices.
Apple says it will only show users one ad in its Maps’ search results. The ad will also be clearly marked with a small blue halo around the pin on the map and will be clearly labeled as an ad in the list of Suggested Places, similar to how ads appear on the App Store.
Bringing ads to one of Apple’s flagship first-party applications offers the company an opportunity to generate an additional, and potentially sizable, revenue stream without having to radically change its product or disrupt the user experience. Already, consumers are poised to expect ads in places like maps, after years of using Google Maps, which has long had ads as a major component. The offering could add billions to Apple’s bottom line as its ads business continues to grow globally.
The company said that its ads will protect users’ privacy, as data about the ads that users interact with isn’t associated with their Apple account. Users’ personal data stays on the device, isn’t collected or stored by Apple, and isn’t shared with third parties, Apple said.
To create an ad and run a campaign, a business must first have an Apple Maps listing. They can then upload photos, add a promotional message, and set a budget that works for them. Apple uses automated matching to place the ad in front of users who are actively searching for a similar business. The advertiser can choose to start or stop their campaign at any time.
Larger advertisers can choose to do more advanced customization, like scheduling times their ad will run or targeting specific locations.
The addition of ads in Maps was previously reported by Bloomberg, which noted that ad placement would involve a bidding process. Apple today confirmed the ads will use an auction-based pricing system, as is standard in the industry. Advertisers only pay when they get a desired outcome, like a view or tap on their ads.
The expansion of Apple’s advertising business comes alongside a broader change to its business offerings, which sees the company combining its different business tools and services into one.
Instead of having to visit different URLs for things like Apple Business Connect, Apple Business Essentials, and Apple Business Manager, the whole suite will now just be called Apple Business. It will be offered in 200 countries and regions as of April 14, 2026.
For the first time, businesses will have access to an employee directory and a new set of productivity tools, including an email and calendar under the business’ domain. Employee accounts come with 5 GB of free iCloud storage, and U.S. businesses can buy upgraded plans starting at $0.99 per user per month (up to 2 TB of storage per user). Companies can also choose to pay for added support with AppleCare+ for Business, priced either per user or per device, starting at $6.99/month.
The new offering includes a variety of free tools for businesses of all sizes, including an MDM product for distributing apps to employees, which has been improved with new features and will now also be offered for free (before it was a paid product).
Smaller businesses will be able to use preconfigured “Blueprints” to help them set up their employee devices without the need for advanced technical expertise. Business owners or admins will simply pick the apps they want to provide staff, and the settings will already be configured on their behalf. Larger companies will be able to manage app deployments via an API, according to Apple.
Tech
Flighty’s new update gives you real-time alerts about airport disturbances
As airport chaos becomes the new norm, popular flight-tracking app Flighty released a new “Airport Intelligence” feature that gives users real-time alerts about airport disruptions with reasons across 14,000 airports in the world. This release is timely, given that tensions in the Middle East have caused multiple flight delays, cancellations, and airport shutdowns, while the U.S. has been facing a shortage of Transportation Security Administration agents, leading to closed security checkpoints and extra-long lines.
The startup is releasing the feature as a web dashboard, as well, so all users can track disruptions for free.
The company said it uses the same data pilots and airlines use to power this feature. This includes thousands of real-time airport advisories, including Meteorological Aerodrome Reports (METARs), Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs), Notice to Airmen (NOTAMs), and more.
This gives Flighty a picture of airport operations such as ground stops, landing procedures, and other safety protocols.
Flighty said that while airport events are described in a technical language in the data, it translates these messages into simple language to let users understand how their journey could be impacted through Airport Intelligence.
“Airport meltdowns are increasingly common, and historically it would take a pilot, controller, or a serious aviation expert to explain why, until now. “Airport Intelligence turns raw data into real insights, so you always know what’s happening at your airport,” Flighty CEO Ryan Jones said.
The new update also introduces more features such as airport warnings with reasons like hail, low visibility, de-icing, and lightning; airport delays forecast with AI-powered summaries to inform users about how different factors can affect their flight; and Deep Airport Stats, which shows busiest airlines, most impacted routes airport rankings, official flight rules, and direct links to airport websites and directions.
The update also includes favorite airport alerts and airport boards, showing all arrivals and departures at any of the airports with performance trends. What’s more, you can also compare airport visits with friends within the app.
In addition to the intelligence feature, Flighty now includes a TV mode for broadcasters, creators, and newsrooms to show the live status of an airport on a screen with an updating ticker.
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Roku’s $3 Howdy subscription service launches on Prime Video
