ZeroDrift Raises $10M to Police AI Models

ZeroDrift, a new AI compliance startup, has raised a $10 million seed round backed by a16z Speedrun and other investors. The company places a guardrail system between AI models and end users, flagging and rewriting messages that violate compliance standards like SOC 2 or GDPR. Unlike conventional AI approaches, ZeroDrift uses deterministic programs to identify violations before deploying an LLM only for rewrites, resulting in lower latency and higher reliability. CEO Kumesh Aroomoogan says the round closed in three weeks and was oversubscribed by 3x.