Petual has raised $20 million in funding to accelerate the development of its artificial intelligence platform designed to automate Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance and internal audit workflows for large enterprises. The financing includes a $17 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz and a previously completed $3.2 million round led by First Round Capital, with participation from Cowboy Ventures and investor Elad Gil. The new capital will support product development, engineering expansion, and go-to-market efforts as the company scales its AI-powered audit platform.

Founded in 2024 and headquartered in San Francisco, Petual is developing a domain-specific AI platform that automates many of the repetitive tasks performed by internal audit teams. The company’s technology gathers evidence, analyzes structured and unstructured business documents, and generates auditor-ready work papers in minutes rather than the hours traditionally required for manual testing. By reducing repetitive administrative work, Petual aims to enable audit professionals to focus more on identifying risks, improving governance, and supporting strategic decision-making.

The company is targeting one of the largest and most labor-intensive areas of enterprise compliance. Public companies spend billions of dollars annually meeting SOX compliance requirements, with internal audit teams dedicating a substantial portion of their time to manually collecting evidence, reviewing documentation, and preparing work papers. These activities often involve examining spreadsheets, screenshots, emails, PDFs, financial reports, and other supporting documents before determining whether internal controls have operated effectively.

Petual’s platform uses agentic AI to automate these workflows while maintaining traceability between supporting evidence and audit conclusions. The system produces documentation formatted to meet external auditor expectations and incorporates approval workflows that keep human oversight central to the audit process. Rather than replacing auditors, the platform is designed to remove repetitive work and allow professionals to devote more time to judgment-intensive activities such as risk assessment and governance.

The newly announced funding follows early commercial traction among large enterprise customers. According to the company, its platform is already being used by multiple Fortune 500, S&P 500, and NASDAQ 100 companies operating across sectors including energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, software, and financial services. Customers have reported efficiency improvements ranging from 68% to 80% across SOX testing workflows, significantly reducing the time required to complete recurring compliance activities.

Petual was founded by Chief Executive Officer Snir Kodesh, a second-time founder and former engineering leader at Retool and Lyft. The broader leadership team combines expertise in enterprise software, artificial intelligence, engineering, and internal audit. David Coulombe, former Vice President of Internal Audit at Lyft, also brings extensive public company audit experience to the organization, helping ensure the platform addresses the practical needs of enterprise audit teams.

The investment from Andreessen Horowitz highlights growing venture capital interest in specialized AI applications that address large, recurring enterprise workflows. While much of the recent attention surrounding generative AI has focused on customer-facing applications, investors increasingly view highly regulated business functions such as audit, compliance, finance, and legal operations as attractive opportunities for automation because they involve structured, repetitive processes supported by large volumes of documentation.

Participation from First Round Capital, Cowboy Ventures, and Elad Gil further underscores confidence in Petual’s ability to modernize enterprise compliance infrastructure. The company believes its technology can reduce both the cost and complexity of maintaining regulatory compliance while improving consistency, transparency, and audit quality.

Beyond SOX compliance, Petual sees opportunities to expand into broader operational audits, IT compliance, financial controls, and enterprise risk management. Many of the workflows supporting these functions involve repetitive document analysis and evidence gathering that are well suited to AI-driven automation. As organizations continue adopting artificial intelligence across business operations, compliance teams are increasingly evaluating technologies capable of improving efficiency while preserving governance standards.

The funding will enable Petual to continue enhancing its AI models, expand engineering and customer-facing teams, and accelerate deployment among enterprise customers. The company also plans to broaden the capabilities of its platform to support additional compliance and audit functions beyond SOX testing, creating a more comprehensive AI operating system for enterprise assurance.

With fresh backing from Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, Cowboy Ventures, and Elad Gil, Petual is positioning itself at the intersection of enterprise software, artificial intelligence, and regulatory technology. As companies continue seeking ways to reduce manual compliance work while maintaining rigorous governance standards, the startup aims to transform internal audit from a process centered on repetitive documentation into one focused on strategic risk management and business insight.

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