The co-founders of cybersecurity startup Clearly AI have a built-in edge: they’re married.
“There are so many benefits,” said Emily Choi-Greene, CEO of the Seattle-based company she runs with her husband Joe Choi-Greene. “There is full incentive alignment. We are fully on the same page about what we want in our lives.”
So far, it seems to be working. Less than two years after launching, Clearly AI just announced a $8.4 million seed round. The company was also named one of 10 finalists in the RSAC 2026 Innovation Sandbox Contest, a high-profile competition tied to the RSA Conference, a major event for the cybersecurity industry.
The round includes backing from Y Combinator, Basis Set Ventures, Crosspoint Capital, Argon Ventures, and Ritual Capital.
The company’s software helps security, privacy, and compliance teams review new products, features, vendors, and AI deployments before they ship. Instead of relying on spreadsheets, tickets, and manual interviews with engineers, the platform automatically gathers context, assesses risk, and flags where human review is needed.
The startup says its software is already used by 17 enterprise customers, including Rivian, Ericsson, Okta, Webflow, Affirm, and HID Global. Rivian is using Clearly AI to evaluate privacy and AI risk every time a new vehicle feature is introduced.
The co-founders originally met at Amazon. Emily worked on natural language understanding for Alexa and later on Amazon’s device security teams, while Joe focused on security and large language models, including work on Amazon’s Project Kuiper (now known as Leo). After Emily left Amazon for AI startup Moveworks — which was acquired by ServiceNow in 2025 — the couple joined Y Combinator together in 2024 and launched Clearly AI shortly after.
Emily said building the company with her spouse has been a strategic advantage, citing a communication foundation that predates the startup. She joked that Y Combinator’s internal guidance on co-founder relationships often sounds like couples therapy, but in their case that work was already done.
“It’s been absolutely awesome working together,” she said.
Clearly AI joins a small but notable club of companies launched by couples who were married or went on to get married — including Eventbrite, Canva, and SlideShare.
The company was previously featured in GeekWire’s Startup Radar feature. Clearly AI has 12 employees and is based in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.
