Zaigo Launches Engineering-Led AI Due Diligence for Private Equity Investors

New pre-acquisition practice gives deal teams an engineer's read on a target's data, AI claims and automation upside — what's real, what's buildable and what it will cost.

New York, NY, Sept. 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zaigo, an AI implementation and services company co-founded by Peter Enestrom and Kyle Richless, today announced the launch of its AI due diligence service, built for private equity firms evaluating acquisitions as AI increasingly shows up in investment theses, management presentations and value-creation plans — often without technical validation.

"Every investment memo now has an AI slide, and almost none of them have been checked by anyone who builds AI systems," said Peter Enestrom, co-founder of Zaigo. "Funds are underwriting assumptions they can't verify. We give them the engineering answer: what's real, what's marketing, what can actually be built, what it will cost, and what it should return."

Zaigo designs, builds and maintains custom AI systems for middle-market businesses and private equity portfolio companies. The new diligence service applies that same practice before a deal team underwrites an AI thesis or commits capital. Zaigo's engineers assess what the target's data, systems and infrastructure can realistically support; test management's existing AI and technology claims; identify and rank AI and automation opportunities; and pressure-test the assumptions behind the investment thesis against production realities. The result is a technical and economic view of a target's AI capabilities, not a strategy deck.

Zaigo has delivered production AI systems for middle-market and private equity-backed companies across manufacturing, distribution and warehousing, retail and e-commerce, healthcare services, professional and advisory services, hospitality and professional sports.

The engagement runs on a fixed fee over four to six weeks and produces a comprehensive written assessment the fund owns: a data-capability map of the target, a ranked list of AI use cases with payback and ROI estimates, an assessment of existing AI claims and capabilities, and a grounded roadmap for what should be built first.

"Diligence shouldn't end at the closing table," said Kyle Richless, co-founder of Zaigo. "A buyer shouldn't pay for AI upside that doesn't exist, or miss upside that does. And once the deal closes, the same engineers who found the opportunity should be the ones who build it — inside the company's own environment, on a plan the fund already owns."

The practice serves private equity funds at any stage of a deal — from pre-letter-of-intent screens and confirmatory diligence through post-close value-creation planning. 

Following an acquisition, Zaigo can continue as the portfolio company's AI operating partner, building the highest-value systems identified during diligence, deploying them inside the company's own cloud environment, and transferring full ownership of the code and documentation to the client.

More information is available at zaigo.ai/services/ai-due-diligence.

About Zaigo

Zaigo is an AI implementation lab co-founded by Peter Enestrom and Kyle Richless. The company designs, builds and maintains custom AI systems — spanning data readiness, workflow automation, AI agents and search — for middle-market companies and private equity portfolios. Every system is deployed inside the client's own environment, and the client owns the work.

Learn more at zaigo.ai.

Press Inquiries

Kyle Richless
kyle [at] zaigo.ai
https://zaigo.ai