Agentic technology dramatically transforms the audit profession by automating up to 87 percent of SOX program management, freeing auditors to focus on strategic risk, not administration.
LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Optro (formerly AuditBoard), the leading AI-powered GRC platform empowering enterprises to transform risk into opportunity, today announced the acquisition of Midship, the industry's premier AI-native SOX automation solution. This strategic move immediately delivers highly governed, enterprise-grade AI agents to Optro's customers and prospects, providing immediate business value and representing a significant milestone in delivering the first and only agentic system of action for GRC.
Internal audit is under increasing pressure to deliver more with less, with only 23 percent of audit teams seeing budget increases and 19 percent facing cuts, according to The IIA's 2026 North American Pulse of Internal Audit Survey. Midship's acquisition and integration with Optro provides a critical solution to these challenges. By automating high-volume, repetitive processes, Optro's platform allows internal auditors to shift their focus from manual control checks to strategic, high-value risk analysis. It also provides the foundation for Optro's alliance partners' agents to begin communicating seamlessly with Optro's agents.
"Global enterprises shouldn't have to choose between cutting-edge innovation and the stability of a trusted partner," said Raul Villar Jr., CEO of Optro. "We moved internal audit from spreadsheets to the cloud, and now we are leveraging agentic AI to transform the function from tactical and manual to strategic and automated. By embedding the market's leading agentic SOX solution directly into Optro's system of action, we are delivering the next generation of AI to our customers."
Founded in 2024 by a team of veteran AI builders and backed by Y Combinator, Midship reinvents the controls testing process from the ground up, using agentic AI to automate manual processes auditors have been tasked with for decades, increasing the strategic value of the audit function in the process. Midship was co-founded by CEO Kieran Taylor, a former internal audit technologist at Deloitte and Instacart, whose firsthand experience building SOX compliance technology during the IPO while at Instacart sparked the vision for using agentic AI to solve audit bottlenecks. Taylor and his two co-founders, Aahel Iyer and Max Maio, will join the Optro product team, where they will continue to build innovative agentic solutions.
"The Midship team has spent countless hours with internal auditors, both before and after Midship existed, understanding the pain they face," said Kieran Taylor, CEO and co-founder at Midship. "We are thrilled to integrate our agentic capabilities into Optro's platform to help teams across the globe automate the heavy lifting of controls testing."
Midship will be fully integrated into Optro's Controls Management solution, providing controls testing and SOX compliance workflows, with localization and support for global enterprises. This integration combines Midship's autonomous testing with Optro's recently announced capabilities, including AI Narratives and Flowcharts, Fieldwork Automations, and Continuous Control Monitoring.
Key capabilities immediately available to customers include:
- Unstructured Data Ingestion: Processing raw, unstandardized evidence exactly as a human auditor would.
- Autonomous Test Execution: Running attribute tests, such as access reviews and bank reconciliations, directly across uploaded evidence.
- Workpaper Generation: Compiling audit-ready Excel workpapers in formats specifically designed for external auditor expectations.
"As an Optro customer, I'm excited to see their investment in this transformative technology," said Michael Rich, Senior Director of Internal Audit at Albertsons and member of Optro's Customer Advisory Board. "The combination of Midship's agentic capabilities with Optro's system of action realizes the full potential of AI, allowing internal audit teams to automate repetitive tasks and focus on strategic work."
This acquisition is a major step toward realizing Optro's vision of an AI-powered GRC system of action, with enterprise-grade, governed agents for compliance, cybersecurity, and risk management teams coming soon. It follows Optro's recent rebranding and the acquisition of FairNow, a purpose-built AI Governance solution, further cementing its position as a global pacesetter in GRC innovation. This momentum is reflected across a string of recent industry recognition: Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies of 2026, G2's 2026 Best Software Awards for Best GRC Software, the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, and a Leader designation in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Tools, Assurance Leaders.
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP acted as legal advisor to Optro, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal advisor to Midship in connection with the transaction.
To learn more, visit optro.ai.
About Optro Optro (formerly AuditBoard) helps enterprises transform risk into opportunity, redefining GRC through an agentic system of action. More than 50% of the Fortune 500 trust Optro to elevate audit, risk, and compliance in addressing a new era of risk. Optro is top-rated by customers on G2 and was named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Tools, Assurance Leaders. To learn more, visit: optro.ai.
Media Contact:
Laura Groshans
press@optro.ai
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