Max Maio
| Max Maio | |
| Occupation | Software engineer, entrepreneur |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founder of Midship |
Max Maio is an American software engineer and entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of Midship, an artificial intelligence platform that automates Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) testing and internal audit workflows. Midship was part of the Y Combinator Summer 2024 batch.[1]
Career
Before founding Midship, Maio worked as a software engineer at several technology and financial services companies. He interned as a software engineer at Genomatica in 2019, followed by a full-time software engineering role at PayPal from 2020 to 2021. He subsequently worked as a software engineer at Lumanu from 2021 to 2023, and at Dashworks from 2023 to 2024.
In 2024, Maio co-founded Midship alongside Aahel Iyer and Kieran Taylor. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Midship develops AI agents designed to autonomously perform SOX compliance testing for public companies. The platform follows an organization's existing audit plan, performs tests on control evidence, and produces fully documented work papers with conclusions linked to source documents. According to the company, Midship's technology can automate over 85% of SOX controls, allowing internal auditors to focus on higher-judgment tasks such as risk assessment and advisory work rather than repetitive procedural documentation.[2]
The company operates in the B2B finance and accounting space and targets public companies subject to SOX compliance requirements. Midship's platform is designed to integrate with existing audit workflows, with work papers that are compatible with Microsoft Excel. Among its early adopters, the company has been used by Reddit for automated SOX testing.
In January 2026, Midship announced a $4.15 million seed funding round led by Costanoa Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and Seguin Ventures. The company stated it would use the funding to scale its team and accelerate adoption among public companies contending with increasing audit complexity and talent shortages in the audit profession.
As of 2024, Midship had approximately three employees.
References
- ↑ "Midship – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "Midship – AI for SOX Testing". 'Midship}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.