Grin

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.

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

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

• Creator marketing software
• Influencer marketing platform
• Creator relationship management
• Affiliate marketing platform
• Social commerce software

Headquarters

HQ city

Sacramento

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core 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

Named customers21 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

AI capability9 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

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 partnerTechnology or IntegrationGRIN 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)Technology or IntegrationListed as a GRIN subprocessor used to parse the metrics page when creators upload their screenshots.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)core (infrastructure)Technology or IntegrationCloud computing host for the GRIN platform (subprocessor).
• Google Cloud Platformcore (infrastructure)Technology or IntegrationCloud computing platform for the GRIN platform (subprocessor).
• Shopifycore (data/analytics)Technology or IntegrationData management and analytics service used as a GRIN subprocessor.
• Stripecore (payment processing)Technology or IntegrationPayment processing subprocessor for GRIN's creator payment flows.
• Salesforcecore (crm)Technology or IntegrationCRM service subprocessor used by GRIN.
• Zendeskcore (support/crm)Technology or IntegrationCRM service subprocessor used by GRIN.
• Slackcore (internal collaboration)Technology or IntegrationInternal communication and collaboration service subprocessor used by GRIN.
• Twiliocore (communications)Technology or IntegrationTelephone, email and text marketing/communication subprocessor used by GRIN.
• Shippocore (shipping/gifting)Technology or IntegrationShipment tracking subprocessor supporting GRIN's product gifting workflows.
• Auth0core (security)Technology or IntegrationFraud protection / authentication subprocessor used by GRIN.
• Klaviyostandard (email/storage)Technology or IntegrationEmail and file storage subprocessor used by GRIN.
• Nylasstandard (email/crm)Technology or IntegrationEmail/file storage and CRM subprocessor used by GRIN.
• Mailgunstandard (communications)Technology or IntegrationTelephone, email and text marketing/communication subprocessor used by GRIN.
• Plaidcore (payment processing)Technology or IntegrationPayment processing subprocessor supporting GRIN's payouts.
• Payment Railscore (payment processing)Technology or IntegrationPayment processing subprocessor supporting GRIN's payouts.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging 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

• Xx.com/growwithgrin
• Facebookfacebook.com/growwithgrin
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/grin-inc-

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors20 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Grin