Indian-origin techie quit corporate job to launch startup, helped Apple fight terrorism

Kalyani Ramadurgam's Kobalt Labs has raised $13 million so far. It helps financial institutions strengthen compliance—an issue Ramadurgam first confronted while helping Apple guard against terrorist misuse of its payment systems. (Image credit: LinkedIn)

An Indian-origin tech professional based in New York, Kalyani Ramadurgam, has made the Forbes 30 Under 30 United States 2026 list in the finance category after moving from a corporate role to co-founding her own artificial intelligence–driven compliance startup.

Ramadurgam, who studied computer science and specialised in artificial intelligence and machine learning, previously held a highly sensitive role at Apple, where she worked on preventing the misuse of Apple Pay by terrorist networks. Her job required blocking individuals on global terrorism watch lists from using the platform.

She later observed that despite Apple’s technological sophistication, its compliance systems were slow, manual, and dependent on large teams reviewing thousands of pages of documents. “Organisations were just throwing bodies at the problem,” she told Forbes.

Identifying a systemic problem

Through her work, Ramadurgam realised that major financial institutions still relied on outdated methods to verify documents, assess risk and manage regulatory compliance. These delays not only increased operational burden but also exposed companies to significant financial and security risks.

Co-founding Kobalt Labs

In 2023, she teamed up with former Affirm software engineer Ashi Agrawal to launch Kobalt Labs, a startup that uses machine-learning models to automate and accelerate compliance reviews. The company builds tools that help banks and fintech firms vet partners, monitor financial documentation, and flag risks more efficiently.

Tasks that once took days or weeks—such as reviewing contracts, policies or disclosures—can now be completed far faster using AI-driven analysis. Ramadurgam emphasises that the goal is not to replace human teams but to reduce repetitive manual work and improve accuracy.

Rapid growth and investor backing

Kobalt Labs has raised $13 million so far and works with over 20 customers, including fintech platform Bilt and Celtic Bank. The company now plays a role in helping financial institutions strengthen compliance—an issue Ramadurgam first confronted while helping Apple guard against terrorist misuse of its payment systems.