About

The instrument M&A needed.

IRON is the research pipeline built for a gap that has existed since AI became a business-critical layer in every acquisition target. We built the instrument because nobody else did.

The problem nobody was solving.

Document-based diligence stops where the AI starts.

Traditional diligence rests on the documents the target hands you. Privacy policies in the data room. Compliance questionnaires answered by counsel. Vendor lists vetted by the CFO.

Those documents describe what the target has chosen to say about itself. They don't describe what the target actually runs. For most of an operating company, those two pictures roughly match. For the AI layer, they diverge.

The AI stack moves faster than disclosure. Engineering teams add models, swap vendors, and ship features between board meetings. Privacy policies get updated on a quarterly review cadence. Sub-processor lists get updated when legal remembers. The result: a structural blind spot in standard M&A diligence sized to whatever the AI footprint of the target is.

Existing AI diligence tools (Harvey, Kira, Luminance) analyze the documents you receive. They make document review faster. They do not surface what the target chose not to put in a document. That gap is the reason IRON exists.

IRON reads the public signal: the GitHub repos that confirm dependencies, the job postings that confirm production systems, the privacy policy clauses that confirm data routing, the open sub-processor lists. Signals the target has already published to the world. Nothing privileged. Nothing the target needs to cooperate on.

Market Context

Why now.

01
30 %
Valuation discount when AI exposure surfaces post-close.
Buyers reprice or exit when AI liability appears after signing. The discount comes out of the seller's proceeds.
FE International · M&A Report · 2026
02
1 in 5
Strategic dealmakers who walked from a transaction due to undisclosed AI risk.
AI liability is no longer theoretical. It is a documented deal-killer at the LOI and diligence stage.
Bain & Company · Global M&A Report · 2026
03
1,561 +
State AI bills introduced across 45 US states in 2026 alone.
Every target company operates inside a regulatory patchwork that changes weekly. Colorado, California, New York, Texas. None of it shows up in the data room.
Multistate · AI Legislation Tracker · May 2026
Signal intelligence as of May 2026. Not legal advice.
2026 ENFORCEMENT LIVE· HIPAA AI GUIDANCE· ANNEX III· 8 HIGH-RISK AI CATEGORIES· NYC LOCAL LAW 144· GDPR ARTICLE 22· CMS-0057-F· PRIOR AUTH AI
REGULATORY TIMELINE

The enforcement calendar keeps moving.

Every quarter without a diligence standard is a quarter of compounding exposure. These are the specific dates deal teams are mispricing right now.

EU / INTERNATIONAL
LIVE
EU AI Act — High-Risk Rules
Aug 2, 2026
Annex III systems active. Healthcare, hiring, credit.
ACTIVE
GDPR AI Interpretations
Now
DPAs issuing AI-specific guidance across 8 member states.
EXPECTED
EU AI Act — GPAI Rules
Aug 2, 2027
General-purpose AI model obligations take effect.
US / STATE
LIVE
NYC Local Law 144
Now
Bias audits required for automated hiring tools.
ACTIVE
Colorado SB 205
Feb 1, 2026
High-risk AI notice and impact assessment obligations.
EXPECTED
Illinois AAIA
Jan 1, 2027
Employer AI transparency rules, statewide.
UNCERTAIN
Federal AI Accountability Act
TBD
Committee stage. Watch for fast-track pressure.

A target operating in New York, Colorado, and Illinois simultaneously sits under three distinct AI compliance regimes with different audit, notice, and documentation requirements. None of them appear in a standard data room. IRON surfaces all three before you close.

See how IRON maps this →

What we built.

"Most deal teams don't run AI diligence. Not because it isn't valuable. Because nobody built the instrument for it. Until now."
Velxa  ·  AI Diligence Intelligence
"We ran IRON on three deals this quarter. On two of them, we found things that moved the price. The third came back clean. That report is now in the data room."
Hypothetical  ·  Mid-Market PE Principal

What IRON is.

IRON is the research pipeline. Velxa is the product.

IRON is the agent and pipeline name. It is not what the customer buys. Customers buy a written IRON report from Velxa: 20 to 40 pages, counsel-ready PDF, formatted for the data room. IRON does the research silently. The report is the artifact.

IRON's confidence comes from a narrow definition of what it does. It reads public signals, maps every AI system found to the regulations that apply, and writes the findings into a report that counsel can validate against the cited evidence. It does not produce legal advice. It does not access private systems. It does not read the target's data room.

Signal intelligence only. Nothing in an IRON report constitutes legal, regulatory, or investment advice. Always engage qualified counsel.

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