Grin
Grin Technologies Inc. is a Sacramento-based SaaS company that provides direct-to-consumer brands, retailers, and agencies with an end-to-end creator marketing platform — combining creator discovery, CRM, gifting, payments, and affiliate management — plus an agentic AI assistant called Gia trained on $1B+ in brand-creator partnerships.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSacramento, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Grin does
Grin Technologies Inc. (operating as GRIN) is a Sacramento-based, venture-backed creator marketing SaaS company founded in 2014 that sells software and AI-driven services to direct-to-consumer brands, retailers, and agencies seeking to run influencer and affiliate marketing programs at scale. The platform architecture is modular and centered on two flagship surfaces: GRIN Classic, the original creator management suite offering Creator Discovery, Social Listening, Content Management, Influencer CRM, Reporting & Analytics, Creator Payments (including 1099 handling), Product Gifting, UGC Campaigns, and Affiliate Marketing modules; and Gia, an agentic AI assistant launched in May 2025 and trained on $1B+ in real brand-creator partnerships, designed to execute creator marketing end-to-end. A separate GRIN For Creators portal lets individual influencers onboard, get matched with brands, and receive payment, forming a two-sided ecosystem.
The technology stack is cloud-hosted on AWS and Google Cloud Platform, integrates with Shopify, Salesforce, Stripe, Slack, Klaviyo, Twilio, Shippo, Plaid, and other brand-stack tools as subprocessors, and uses OpenAI/ChatGPT for parsing creator-uploaded screenshots. Gia combines generative AI, NLP, recommendation, and anomaly-detection capabilities to automate outreach, affiliate execution, and optimization, with the company recently shifting monetization toward usage-based AI execution fees rather than per-seat software access.
The business model historically relied on annual enterprise SaaS subscriptions with auto-renewing 12-month terms, supplemented by payment transaction fees (3% credit card, $50 wire), professional services, and authorized partner reselling. In January 2026, GRIN pivoted from an enterprise-only sales motion to instant self-serve signup with monthly billing, and in May 2026 launched a free affiliate marketing product with no platform fees or revenue share, monetized instead through Gia's AI execution and optimization services. The company has raised approximately $145.3 million across six funding rounds (last major round: $110M Series-equivalent in October 2021 led by Lone Pine Capital), acquired WearAway in January 2019, and serves customers including Uber, SKIMS, Vera Bradley, ipsy, Alphalete, and G-Fuel.
Grin firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Grin
- Legal name
- Grin Technologies Inc.
- Website
- https://grin.co
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Grin Technologies Inc. is a Sacramento-based SaaS company that provides direct-to-consumer brands, retailers, and agencies with an end-to-end creator marketing platform — combining creator discovery, CRM, gifting, payments, and affiliate management — plus an agentic AI assistant called Gia trained on $1B+ in brand-creator partnerships.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Grin industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Influencer / Creator Marketing Software
- NAICS
- Advertising Agencies (541810), Graphic Design Services (541430)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising (7310)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Creator Management & Talent Representation (BPAFAHAB)
Keywords
Where Grin is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sacramento
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Grin business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription Fees (GRIN Platform): Annual subscription fees for the GRIN cloud-based creator marketing SaaS platform; initial terms of 12 months with automatic 12-month renewal. Includes 'Essential' (entry-level) and higher tiers; trial converts to annual Essential package fees after 30 days.
- AI Execution & Optimization Services (Gia): Performance/usage-based charges for Gia's agentic AI execution, optimization, and program management services rather than software access — represents a shift toward outcome-based monetization.
- Creator Payment Transaction Fees: When brands pay creators through the platform: 3% processing fee for credit card deposits, $50 flat fee for wire transfers, no fee for ACH deposits; $50 fee on returned funds.
- Professional Services: Implementation, configuration, consulting, training, and managed services delivered by GRIN's Professional Services team via One-Time or Recurring (annual) engagements under a separate Professional Services Agreement.
- Free Affiliate Infrastructure with Revenue Share (Gia Affiliate): Free affiliate product with no platform fees or rev share for the standard affiliate program, monetized instead via the AI execution services attached to it.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Instant self-serve access with monthly billing (launched Jan 2026) |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free affiliate infrastructure product |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise annual subscription (Essential tier and above) |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Professional Services engagements |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Grin product offering
Product offeringCore offering
GRIN is a cloud-based creator marketing SaaS platform that enables brands to discover influencers, manage relationships, run campaigns, pay creators, and measure ROI across influencer and affiliate programs. The offering combines the GRIN Classic creator management platform with Gia, an agentic AI assistant trained on $1B+ in real brand-creator partnerships that automates creator marketing end-to-end. A separate GRIN For Creators experience serves individual creators.
Product overview
Grin offers a platform-plus-modules creator marketing architecture centered on two flagship surfaces: GRIN Classic, the original full-control Creator Management Platform for brands that want to manually run influencer and affiliate programs (Creator Discovery, Social Listening, Content Management, Relationship Management/CRM, Reporting & Analytics, Creator Payments, Product Gifting, UGC Campaigns and Affiliate Marketing modules), and Gia, an agentic AI assistant layered on top that runs creator marketing end-to-end. The two sit under one product family with shared logins (app.grin.co for Classic and app.grin.ai for Gia), a unified Software Integrations layer connecting to ecommerce/CRM/payment stacks, and a separate GRIN For Creators experience so individual creators can join programs, manage deliverables and get paid.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Gia: GRIN's agentic AI assistant / AI-powered creator marketing agent that automates affiliate programs end to end (separate web app at grin.ai / app.grin.ai).
- GRIN Classic
- GRIN For Creators
Products and services
- GRIN Classic GRIN Classic is the original Creator Management Platform that lets brands manually manage influencer and affiliate programs, build creator relationships, track performance, and optimize campaigns end to end.
- Gia Agentic AI Gia is an agentic AI assistant that runs creator marketing end-to-end including creator discovery, outreach drafting, affiliate program automation, and optimization, trained on $1B+ in real brand-creator partnerships.
- GRIN For Creators Creator-facing offering within the GRIN ecosystem that lets individual creators get matched with brand partnerships, manage briefs and deliverables, and get paid.
- GRIN Free Affiliate Marketing Product Free affiliate marketing product that allows brands to launch creator affiliate programs with no platform fees and no revenue share; monetized via attached Gia AI execution and optimization services.
- GRIN Professional Services Professional Services team providing implementation, configuration, consulting, training, and managed services for GRIN customers under separate Professional Services Agreements.
Quantifiable outcome
- Uber nearly tripled content output using GRIN
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Grin
Customer profileNamed customers21 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Grin technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration14 records
AI capability9 records
Feature5 records
Grin partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
17 partnerships are on record, tiered core integration partner, core (subprocessor), core (infrastructure), core (data/analytics), core (payment processing), core (crm), core (support/crm), core (internal collaboration), core (communications), core (shipping/gifting), core (security), standard (email/storage), standard (email/crm) and standard (communications).
- CreatorCommercecore integration partnerGRIN and CreatorCommerce announced an integration (Nov 17, 2024) to personalize the consumer shopping journey with Creator Shops, connecting GRIN's creator marketing platform with CreatorCommerce's shoppable creator experience.
- OpenAI / ChatGPTcore (subprocessor)Listed as a GRIN subprocessor used to parse the metrics page when creators upload their screenshots.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)core (infrastructure)Cloud computing host for the GRIN platform (subprocessor).
- Google Cloud Platformcore (infrastructure)Cloud computing platform for the GRIN platform (subprocessor).
- Shopifycore (data/analytics)Data management and analytics service used as a GRIN subprocessor.
- Stripecore (payment processing)Payment processing subprocessor for GRIN's creator payment flows.
- Salesforcecore (crm)CRM service subprocessor used by GRIN.
- Zendeskcore (support/crm)CRM service subprocessor used by GRIN.
- Slackcore (internal collaboration)Internal communication and collaboration service subprocessor used by GRIN.
- Twiliocore (communications)Telephone, email and text marketing/communication subprocessor used by GRIN.
- Shippocore (shipping/gifting)Shipment tracking subprocessor supporting GRIN's product gifting workflows.
- Auth0core (security)Fraud protection / authentication subprocessor used by GRIN.
- Klaviyostandard (email/storage)Email and file storage subprocessor used by GRIN.
- Nylasstandard (email/crm)Email/file storage and CRM subprocessor used by GRIN.
- Mailgunstandard (communications)Telephone, email and text marketing/communication subprocessor used by GRIN.
- Plaidcore (payment processing)Payment processing subprocessor supporting GRIN's payouts.
- Payment Railscore (payment processing)Payment processing subprocessor supporting GRIN's payouts.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Grin competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Modash: Creator discovery, analytics, and outreach platform with strong content/audience analytics. Emerging competitor to Grin in the discovery and analytics layer, especially attractive to mid-market D2C.
- HypeAuditor: AI-based influencer analytics and fraud detection platform. Adjacent competitor to Grin's social listening and creator vetting capabilities.
- CreatorCommerce: Shoppable creator commerce platform with which Grin has an existing integration partnership. Adjacent capability in the creator-driven commerce workflow that Grin's affiliate product overlaps with.
Direct peers
- CreatorIQ: Enterprise creator marketing platform offering discovery, workflow, measurement, and analytics for global brands. Direct head-to-head competitor to Grin in the enterprise tier of the same category.
- Aspire (formerly AspireIQ): Creator and influencer marketing platform serving mid-market and enterprise D2C brands with discovery, relationship management, affiliate, and UGC workflows — directly overlapping with Grin's core offering.
- Influencer (formerly IZEA / Influencer.com): Creator marketplace and SaaS platform for brands to run influencer campaigns, with managed services options. Overlaps with Grin's creator discovery, relationship management, and campaign execution capabilities.
- LTK (formerly rewardStyle / LIKEtoKNOW.it): Creator-driven shopping and affiliate platform powering influencer commerce at scale, with a strong D2C brand and creator base similar to Grin's target market.
- Upfluence: End-to-end influencer marketing and affiliate platform with discovery, outreach, gifting, payments, and analytics. Competes with Grin across the same SMB-to-enterprise creator marketing stack.
- Tagger (by Sprout Social): Influencer marketing platform with social listening, campaign planning, and analytics, now owned by Sprout Social. Competes with Grin in the same enterprise creator marketing category.
Broad incumbents
- Klear (Meltwater): Influencer marketing platform owned by Meltwater, providing discovery, campaign management, and analytics as part of a broader social intelligence suite — broader incumbent competing with Grin.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Grin social profiles
Digital presenceGrin compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Grin financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Grin leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
Grin funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors20 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Grin M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Grin
What does Grin do?
GRIN is a cloud-based creator marketing SaaS platform that enables brands to discover influencers, manage relationships, run campaigns, pay creators, and measure ROI across influencer and affiliate programs. The offering combines the GRIN Classic creator management platform with Gia, an agentic AI assistant trained on $1B+ in real brand-creator partnerships that automates creator marketing end-to-end. A separate GRIN For Creators experience serves individual creators.
Is Grin a public or private company?
Grin is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Grin founded?
Grin was founded in 2014. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Grin based?
Grin is headquartered in Sacramento, United States, in the North America region.
How does Grin make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Subscription Fees (GRIN Platform) is the primary driver. The others are AI Execution & Optimization Services (Gia), creator Payment Transaction Fees, professional Services and free Affiliate Infrastructure with Revenue Share (Gia Affiliate).
Who are Grin's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Modash, HypeAuditor and CreatorCommerce. Direct peers are CreatorIQ, Aspire (formerly AspireIQ), Influencer (formerly IZEA / Influencer.com), LTK (formerly rewardStyle / LIKEtoKNOW.it), Upfluence and Tagger (by Sprout Social). Klear (Meltwater) is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Grin have an API?
No public API is recorded for Grin.
What industry is Grin in?
Grin's product category is Influencer / Creator Marketing Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAFAHAB, Creator Management & Talent Representation. Its NAICS code is 541810 and its SIC code is 7310.