The Grade

What The Grade does

The Grade is a UK-based consumer finance media platform that delivers accessible investment news, platform reviews, and curated share tips to retail investors. Operated by Deals and Reviews Limited (company number 10694786, registered in England and Wales), the company publishes daily content on its website (thegrade.com) and distributes a weekly newsletter. Founded by Nick Barber in 2020 after he struggled to find jargon-free investment information when entering the housing market, the platform positions itself as a consumer champion fighting financial unfairness in the UK.

The product suite consists of four core editorial offerings: The Daily Call (daily stock and company analysis), The Tipster Email (a weekly curated newsletter aggregating share tips from the press and stockbrokers), Platform Reviews (in-depth reviews covering 20+ UK investing, trading, and robo-adviser platforms including Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, Interactive Investor, Freetrade, Trading 212, eToro, Nutmeg, Moneyfarm, and PensionBee), and Calls of the Week (weekly roundups). The underlying technology is a standard web-based content management system with no proprietary technology disclosed. Distribution is entirely through owned digital properties — the website and email newsletter — with no mobile application.

The business model relies on affiliate commissions from financial platform referrals (tracked via 30-day cookies) supplemented by display advertising. All content is free to access; there is no subscription tier. The company operates with a small remote-first team of 1–10 employees based in London. Founder Nick Barber, who previously held roles at Bank of America, Money.co.uk, and Just Eat, serves as the primary content author and public-facing spokesperson. Revenue is not publicly disclosed.

Name

The Grade

Legal name

Deals and Reviews Limited

Website

https://thegrade.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Grade is a UK-based consumer finance media platform delivering accessible investment news, platform reviews, and weekly curated share tips to retail investors via free website content and email newsletter, monetized through affiliate commissions from financial platforms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Personal Finance Media

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Investing Fundamentals (Stocks, Bonds, Funds, Risk) (EDAAAJAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Financial & Consumer Literacy (Banking, Credit, Contracts) (EDAAAAAG), Credit & Debt Management (Credit Scores, Loans, Repayment) (EDAAAJAC)

Keywords

• Personal finance media
• Investment platform reviews
• Share tips newsletter
• Consumer finance news
• Affiliate content publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Affiliate commissions: The Grade earns affiliate commissions by referring readers to financial platforms (investment apps, brokers, savings accounts). The site uses affiliate cookies (lasting varying durations, typically 30 days) to track reader referrals to partner platforms. Commission structure is not publicly disclosed.
2. Display advertising: The platform uses marketing/advertising cookies to target users with personalised ads via third-party sites. This represents a secondary advertising revenue stream.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Grade is a UK consumer finance media platform that publishes daily investment news, weekly curated share tips via email, and in-depth reviews of investing, trading, and robo-adviser platforms for retail investors. The content is free to readers and monetized through affiliate commissions when readers sign up with featured financial platforms and via display advertising. The platform is operated by Deals and Reviews Limited and positions itself as a consumer champion fighting financial unfairness in the UK.

Product overview

The Grade is a UK-based consumer finance news and reviews platform that provides quick reads for smart investors. The offering consists of a unified content platform featuring daily financial news content (The Daily Call), a weekly curated newsletter (The Tipster Email), platform reviews of various investing and trading platforms, and weekly roundups (Calls of the Week). The company is operated by Deals and Reviews Ltd and positions itself as a consumer champion focused on fighting financial unfairness and helping people build wealth.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Tipster Email: Weekly newsletter rounding up share tips from press and stockbrokers.
• The Daily Call

Products and services

• The Daily Call

Quantifiable outcome

• Regular publication of daily and weekly investment content including platform reviews, stock calls, and curated share tips

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Others

• Interactive Investor: Major UK investment platform that The Grade reviews. Comparable as both a content producer (own research and education hub) and a key affiliate partner, representing the type of platform The Grade's revenue depends on.
• Hargreaves Lansdown: UK's largest retail investment platform and one of The Grade's reviewed platforms. Relevant peer because it operates a substantial in-house content/research operation, illustrating the type of in-platform content ecosystem The Grade competes against for reader attention.

Broad incumbents

• MoneySupermarket Group: The UK's largest financial price comparison platform, monetising via affiliate referrals across insurance, banking, and investments. A much larger incumbent that demonstrates the scaled ceiling of the affiliate comparison model The Grade operates in.
• Investing.com: Global financial news, data, and analysis platform serving retail investors. Comparable to The Grade as a content-first platform monetising retail investor traffic, though at vastly greater scale and with international reach The Grade lacks.
• This Is Money: Long-running Daily Mail-owned UK personal finance and investment news site covering markets, platforms, and consumer finance topics. Direct competitor for UK retail investor attention and a benchmark for the consumer-finance-media content model The Grade runs.

Direct peers

• Money.co.uk: UK consumer finance comparison platform that helps users compare financial products (banking, insurance, investments) via affiliate commissions. Operates the same content-and-affiliate model in the same UK retail finance market that The Grade targets; notably, founder Nick Barber previously worked at Money.co.uk.
• Motley Fool (UK): UK arm of The Motley Fool, providing investment content, share tips, and premium advisory services to retail investors. Direct peer because it targets the same UK retail investor audience with stock tips and investment education, monetising through subscriptions and related affiliate offers.

Emerging players

• Monevator: UK-focused personal finance and investing blog serving retail investors with accessible commentary and platform guidance. Comparable as a small-team UK content site targeting similar investor-demographic readers, though with a less aggressive affiliate monetisation stance.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TheGradeTweets

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about The Grade