Grade
Grade is a creator payment and compliance platform that lets brands, agencies, and marketplaces pay content creators in one click while handling tax and regulatory obligations. Acting as merchant of record, Grade collects tax forms, verifies identities, and submits 1099s, while enabling payouts to creators in over 190 countries via methods like PayPal, bank transfer, and crypto.
- Financial Technology
- Creator / Creative Economy
- Regulatory & Compliance Technology
- Software Only
Funding
Raised to date
$500KRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
Founders
Founder details are not available yet.
Product
Problem
Brands, agencies, and marketplaces face complex administrative burdens when paying content creators, including collecting tax forms, verifying identities, and complying with cross-border regulations like DAC7 and 1099 reporting. Manual payment processes are time-consuming, error-prone, and expose companies to compliance and fraud risks.
Solution
Grade provides a creator payment and compliance platform that lets brands, agencies, and marketplaces pay creators in one click while handling tax and regulatory obligations. Acting as merchant of record, Grade contractually purchases creator services and resells them to clients, taking responsibility for tax documentation (W-9/W-8BEN), KYC verification, and 1099 submission. The platform tracks creator posts across platforms for free, aggregates performance metrics in real time, and enables payouts to creators in over 190 countries without requiring creators to create accounts. Clients pre-fund wallets, and creators receive email invitations to claim payments via various methods including PayPal, bank transfer, Payoneer, and crypto.
Target Audience
Primary users are brands, agencies, and marketplaces that need to pay content creators at scale while managing compliance obligations across multiple jurisdictions.
Features
- Free automatic tracking of creator posts, views, and earnings across integrated platforms via authenticated APIs
- Merchant of Record model handles KYC/AML verification, W-9/W-8BEN collection, and 1099 filing on behalf of creators
- One-click batch payouts to creators in 190+ countries with options including PayPal, local bank transfer, SWIFT, Payoneer, AirTM, crypto, and gift cards
- Real-time performance dashboards with anomaly detection, velocity checks, and fraud pattern analysis
- Pre-funded wallet system with multi-currency support and segregated accounts for secure fund handling
- DAC7 reporting and employment classification compliance tools for EU regulations
- API integration for marketplaces to embed payouts and tracking natively