London-based AI startup Builder.ai relied on an auditor with long-standing links to its founder, reports say.
The company, which uses AI to help clients build customised apps and has has raised over $450m, used an accountant to sign off its UK accounts who had previously served as a director of another company set up by Builder.ai’s founder Sachin Dev Duggal, according to a review of filings by the FT, raising questions over conflict of interest.
So-called “chief wizard” Duggal stepped down from his CEO role at Builder.ai last month and later resigned as a director from the company’s UK entity. He is still on the group’s board.
The FT also reports that two Builder.ai subsidiaries employed a number of small audit firms in quick succession, including a Singaporean firm that also audited cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital before it collapsed.
Builder.ai told the FT that its auditors have “evolved in alignment with our operational scale and revenue segmentation” as well as local regulations, and that “changes in auditors were based on appropriate business needs at the point in time”.
The company said it had now engaged a Big 4 internal audit firm and a Big 4 statutory group auditor for consolidated oversight”, underlining Builder.ai’s “commitment to strong financial governance”.
Builder.ai was founded in 2016 and has raised funds from investors including Microsoft, Lakestar, Renaud Visage and the Qatar Investment Authority.
The company is currently searching for a new CFO, after its previous one resigned in July 2023.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/builder-ai-auditor-founder-news/
