Building the Future of Secure Code
Software development has never been more complex. Engineering teams are shipping code faster than ever while navigating an increasingly sophisticated landscape of security requirements, regulatory standards, and compliance frameworks. Yet most teams still rely on manual processes and fragmented tools to ensure their code meets SOC 2, SOX, and GDPR requirements.
That’s why we’re so excited to have backed Optimal AI, co-leading their Seed round alongside Chingona Ventures. Optimal has built AI agents that automate compliance workflows directly within the development tools engineering teams already use every day.
Founded by Iba Masood and Syed Ahmed, Optimal represents their third venture together, bringing hard-earned lessons from building Tara AI, their previous YC-backed developer productivity company. When we evaluate potential investments, we prioritize founders who understand their market deeply and execute relentlessly. Iba and Syed exemplify both qualities.
Solving real pain points in developer operations
Most engineering organizations treat compliance as an afterthought — a necessary evil that slows down development cycles. Security reviews can take weeks, manual code audits consume valuable engineering time, and ensuring regulatory compliance often requires dedicated personnel who don’t scale with growing teams.
Optimal takes a different approach. Instead of adding another tool to an already crowded stack, their AI agents integrate directly with GitHub and Jira to provide automated pull request reviews, compliance checks, and security vulnerability detection. Their flagship product, OptiBot, acts as an AI-powered team member that reviews pull requests for security vulnerabilities, compliance issues, and code quality standards. By automating these critical but time-consuming reviews, OptiBot enables engineering teams to maintain high security standards without sacrificing development speed. Teams get the oversight they need without changing their existing workflows.
Early results speak for themselves:
Code shipping cycles accelerated by 65% through automated reviews
Engineering productivity increased by 35% as teams focused on building instead of manual compliance tasks
Pull request processing efficiency improved by 40% with AI-powered analysis
Founders who execute
Building a successful company requires more than good ideas. It demands founders who can navigate challenges, learn from setbacks, and adapt quickly to market feedback. Iba and Syed have proven they possess these qualities.
Deep market knowledge: The founders bring extensive experience in developer tools and enterprise software, having previously built and scaled technology companies in this space. Their combined background spans strategy consulting, data science, and hands-on product development, providing both the technical depth and business acumen needed to tackle complex engineering challenges.
Customer-driven approach: Rather than building in isolation, the team has maintained close relationships with early customers, implementing feedback rapidly and demonstrating genuine partnership. Engineering leaders consistently praise their responsiveness and product impact.
Act One’s partnership with Optimal AI
We invest in companies positioned to define new categories and transform how businesses operate. Optimal addresses a fundamental shift in software development with the need for sophisticated compliance infrastructure that doesn’t sacrifice velocity in the emerging AI economy.
Our portfolio includes successful compliance-focused companies like AuditBoard, giving us valuable experience in this space. As software continues to power more of the global AI economy, the importance of secure, compliant code will only grow. Optimal AI is building the infrastructure to make this achievable for engineering teams of all sizes.
