Hickory

Not yet independently verified. Hickory names no customers or integrations, and its SOC 2 and PCI DSS claims and the 10x queue-speed figure are the company's own; we have not seen the reports or an independent review. Neither its site nor its launch page states where it is based. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Banks and fintechs pay for separate tools covering monitoring, fraud, identity and audit, and then hire people to push the manual work between them. Hickory & Company wants to replace that stack with agent-first workflows for fraud and anti-money-laundering (AML) work.

A review queue you work through by conversation

Instead of a dashboard, analysts clear their queue in a chat interface. The company says teams get through it about ten times faster this way, a figure it has not backed with outside data. Compliance staff can also pull reporting themselves rather than waiting on an IT ticket. Its site names three products: Analyst Studio, which answers data requests with sources attached; Automated Workflows, which collects and reviews documentation for complaints, audit requests and testing populations, then puts it up for approval; and a Tailored Knowledge Base that answers questions about regulations and a customer's own policies with citations.

Evidence gathered before anyone asks

Background workflows collect evidence, pre-draft documentation and recommend decisions, tied to a knowledge base written by the company's compliance specialists. Every step, with its reasoning, is recorded in an audit trail so examiners and auditors can follow it. People stay responsible for the final call.

Controls the company describes

Hickory states that it uses independent model validation, a single-tenant virtual private cloud, logging of every action, and encryption in transit and at rest. Its site also claims SOC 2 and PCI DSS certifications. It targets sponsor banks, community banks, scaled fintechs, new fintechs and credit unions.

Founder with bank and fintech roots

Joshua Howland, the CEO, previously founded Seis (Y Combinator W22), which the launch post says passed $10 million in revenue within 15 months, and was its president and chief technology officer. He has built enterprise software for banks including Bank of America and Capital One, and led compliance at sponsor and community banks. The team page also lists Scott Grow, a compliance and BSA specialist with more than 20 years in industrial banks, and founding engineer Kevin Anderson.

Key facts

Maker: Hickory & Company Launched: 30 October 2026 on Y Combinator's launch board Founders: Joshua Howland (CEO) YC batch: Fall 2026 Pricing: not published; demo booking Security claims: single-tenant VPC, encryption in transit and at rest, SOC 2, PCI DSS (company's own) Website: hickory.co