The typical merger and acquisition process is slow and expensive, even for the largest and best-resourced private equity firms. In addition to spending countless hours meeting with potential targets’ senior executives and modeling financial outcomes, these groups spend millions of dollars on outside advisors such as accountants, lawyers, and management consultants.
If a deal falls through, external advisor fees are not reimbursed, so PE firms wait until interest is certain before hiring expensive experts such as consultants from McKinsey, BCG and Bain to conduct extensive commercial research on the market and target company.
Startup DiligenceSquared, part of YC’s Fall 2025 cohort, says that with the help of AI, it can deliver top-notch, consulting-quality commercial research at a fraction of traditional costs.
The startup’s co-founders Frederik Hansen and Soren Biltoft have deep expertise in private equity due diligence. Mr. Hansen previously served as president of Blackstone and commissioned these reports on multibillion-dollar acquisitions. Meanwhile, Mr. Biltoft spent seven years in BCG’s private equity practice, leading this type of diligent effort.
Since launching in October, Hansen and Biltoft’s industry experience has helped DiligenceSquared complete multiple projects for some of the world’s largest PE firms and mid-market funds, Hansen told TechCrunch.
This early traction convinced former Index Ventures partner Damir Becirovic to lead DiligenceSquared’s $5 million seed round from his new VC firm, Relentless.
Instead of relying on expensive management consultants, the startup uses AI voice agents to conduct interviews with customers of companies that PE firms are considering acquiring.
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DiligenceSquared applies the same AI interviewing model seen at consumer research startups like Keplar, Outset, and Listen Labs, which raised $69 million at a $500 million valuation in January. But Hansen and Biltoft argue that their due diligence process and end product is fundamentally different from the consumer research these startups do.
Hansen said PE firms can pay McKinsey, Bain or BCG $500,000 to $1 million to interview dozens of corporate clients, including executives, and produce a 200-page report that integrates those insights with proprietary market data. To ensure the quality of the analysis, DiligenceSquared engages senior human consultants who verify the accuracy and commercial insight of the final output.
With AI doing much of the groundwork, the startup claims it can provide analytics for as little as $50,000.
“We’re taking these great insights that were previously reserved for making very important decisions and now making them more accessible,” Hansen said. Because of the low price, PE firms are now much more willing to engage with DiligenceSquared earlier in the process, long before they have a strong conviction for a deal.
DiligenceSquared isn’t the only company trying to disrupt the Diligence market. Its main competitor, Bridgetown Research, raised $19 million in Series A co-led by Accel and Lightspeed in February 2026.
In addition to Hansen and Biltoft, DiligenceSquared was co-founded by Harshil Rastogi, a former Google engineer.
