Deutsche Bank has successfully co-led a $10 million Series A funding round for Kosli, a Norwegian company specializing in compliance automation technology.
The funding initiative was spearheaded by Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) division, in collaboration with Heavybit. Other contributors included Defined Capital, Transpose Platform, and several angel investors.
Kosli highlights a pressing issue within the governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) workflows in the context of rapid advancements in cloud and DevOps technologies. This lag in adaptation has created significant bottlenecks that not only delay the deployment of software changes but also heighten associated risks.
According to a 2024 McKinsey survey, 41% of global financial institutions identified deficiencies in their metrics and reporting capabilities as a major weakness in their operational infrastructure.
Founded in 2019, Kosli is committed to assisting financial institutions in navigating these challenges. The company’s solutions automate software development lifecycle (SDLC) controls and generate audit trails, helping clients achieve compliance and security in their software updates at the pace of DevOps.
“Kosli is designed to meet the unique needs of software development teams operating within heavily regulated sectors,” stated Martin Reeves, who oversees engineering platforms and practices at Deutsche Bank’s technology, data, and innovation division.
Moreover, with the funding announcement, Kosli also unveiled Kosli Enterprise, which introduces new capabilities tailored for the financial services sector. These features include enhanced support for large user bases, automation of change management processes, and the generation of audit evidence.
Mike Long, CEO of Kosli, remarked, “Currently, teams in regulated environments are making control and audit decisions based on information that is often recorded in text fields. This reliance on manual processes undermines software delivery efficiency and leads to the accumulation of errors and risks, which only surface during audits or system failures. Our goal is to revolutionize this flawed process through controls engineering, allowing teams to deliver compliant and secure changes swiftly and effectively.”