Actual
Actual is a permissioned purchase data platform that provides SDKs and APIs to capture, enrich, and monetize verified receipt and transaction data across paper, email, and retailer accounts for consumer apps, brands, and media buyers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersBrooklyn, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Actual does
Actual (legally BlinkReceipt, LLC) is a permissioned purchase data platform that captures, structures, and activates verified transaction data across paper receipts, email receipts, and retailer account histories. The company's core technology combines on-device OCR (built in-house for seven languages), computer vision, ML-based merchant identification against a 250,000+ US store database, fraud and duplicate detection, and SKU-level product enrichment that returns standardized UPCs, brands, and categories. Its product surface spans the BlinkReceipt and BlinkEReceipt SDKs for iOS and Android, the server-side Scan API v14 and eReceipts API, and the BlinkEngage monetization layer that serves contextual ads, offers, and surveys at receipt-engagement moments. Webhooks, idempotency support, and audit trails provide enterprise-grade delivery infrastructure.
Actual operates a partner-first, API-first go-to-market model: consumer apps integrate the SDK and bring their own audience, while Actual provides the underlying data infrastructure and monetization surface. The company generates revenue through quote-based, multi-year enterprise SDK and API licensing (covering paper receipts, email linking, account linking, and product intelligence) and through advertising rev-share from the Activation platform. Customers span food delivery (DoorDash, Instacart), cashback and loyalty (Ibotta, Attain, Upside, Pogo), CPG and market research (General Mills, Prodege, PDI), and e-commerce. The platform processes over one billion receipts annually across 50+ partner apps serving millions of monthly active users, with account-linking coverage across seven countries (US, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Germany, Australia). The company is privately held as a subsidiary of Microblink LLC (Zagreb, Croatia) and operates from Brooklyn, NY.
Actual firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Actual
- Legal name
- BlinkReceipt, LLC
- Website
- https://actualplatform.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Actual is a permissioned purchase data platform that provides SDKs and APIs to capture, enrich, and monetize verified receipt and transaction data across paper, email, and retailer accounts for consumer apps, brands, and media buyers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Actual industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Purchase Data Intelligence
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210), Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- OCR, ICR & Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (BPAAAKAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Data Monetization & Data Products Services (BPAEAHAL), App Monetization & Subscription Management Platforms (BPAMADAI), Social, Community & Creator Platform Feeds (HDAAAGAD)
Keywords
Where Actual is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Brooklyn
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Actual business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- SDK/API Licensing: Actual generates revenue through SDK and API licensing. Partners integrate Actual's technology into their consumer apps and pay for access to receipt scanning, email linking, and account linking capabilities. License keys are obtained through account teams with feature entitlements. The company operates a partner-first model where partners bring audiences and Actual provides infrastructure.
- Platform Services and Data Monetization: Revenue generated from in-app monetization features including contextual ads, offers, and surveys served during the receipt engagement moment. The Activation platform enables partners to turn receipt scanning into a profit center while enhancing user experience.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Enterprise licensing with quote-based pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels4 records
Actual product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Actual provides AI-native purchase data infrastructure that captures, structures, and enriches purchase data from paper receipts (on-device OCR), digital email receipts (IMAP extraction), and 50+ retailer accounts, then activates that data through in-app monetization (contextual ads, offers, surveys). The platform is delivered to consumer app developers via iOS/Android SDKs, REST APIs, and webhook infrastructure under an enterprise licensing model.
Product overview
Actual is a Permissioned Purchase Data Platform comprising three core capture products (Actual Capture for paper receipts, Actual Links for email and account linking), a monetization layer (Actual Activation/BlinkEngage), and a product enrichment add-on. The platform processes over one billion receipts annually using computer vision and machine learning. Integration options include native iOS and Android SDKs, a REST Scan API for server-side processing, and an eReceipts API for email extraction. Results are delivered via SDK callbacks or webhook endpoints.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Actual Capture (Paper Receipts) On-device OCR product that transforms photos of paper receipts into clean, structured purchase data in real time. Extracts merchant details, itemized products, subtotals, tax, totals, date, time, and transaction metadata. Targets consumer app developers in grocery, fuel, convenience, pharmacy, and CPG verticals.
- Actual Links (Email Linking) Product that captures structured purchase data directly from digital receipts in users' email accounts. Connects Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, and IMAP-enabled providers via on-device authentication with server-side extraction, historical lookback, and webhook delivery.
- Actual Links (Account Linking) Product that retrieves purchase history from 50+ retailer accounts (Amazon, Walmart, Target, Instacart, etc.) covering in-store, delivery, pickup, and digital order types. Credentials encrypted and stored locally on device keychain with up to 3 years of historical order retrieval.
- Actual Activation (BlinkEngage) Monetization SDK and platform that turns receipt scanning into a profit center through contextual ads, personalized offers, and surveys at pre- and post-purchase moments. Includes reward systems (base scan rewards, purchase rewards, boost rewards), Missed Earnings correction flow, and webhook-based event delivery.
- Scan API Server-side receipt processing REST API (v14) that accepts receipt images as file uploads or URLs, processes them, and returns structured JSON with merchant, date, total, line items, payment method, and quality signals. Accessible to any HTTP client with no SDK requirement.
- eReceipts API REST API for email receipt extraction that configures retailer email addresses, cutoff dates, and webhook endpoints for receiving extracted digital receipt data from supported merchants.
- Webhook Service Enterprise-grade asynchronous event delivery service from Actual's backend to customer-configured webhook endpoints. Delivers structured event notifications including ReceiptProcessed and RewardUpdated events with automatic retry logic (exponential backoff), dead letter queue for failed deliveries, idempotency support, and audit trail.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over one billion receipts processed per year
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Actual
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Actual technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability5 records
Feature6 records
Actual partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- DoorDashcoreDoorDash is listed as a partner/customer logo on Actual's website, indicating integration of Actual's purchase data platform into DoorDash's consumer app for receipt scanning or purchase data activation capabilities.
- General MillscoreGeneral Mills is featured as a partner brand leveraging Actual's purchase data intelligence for consumer insights and engagement, shown prominently on the customer logos section of the website.
- InstacartcoreInstacart is both a supported retailer for account linking (with 50+ retailers supported) and a partner platform utilizing Actual's technology for purchase data capture and activation.
- IbottacoreIbotta, a leading cashback and rewards platform, is listed as a partner leveraging Actual's receipt scanning technology and purchase data platform.
- AmazoncoreAmazon is a supported retailer for account linking across US, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Germany, and Australia markets, enabling retrieval of purchase history including in-store, delivery, pickup, and digital orders.
- UpsidecoreUpside, a grocery savings platform, is listed as a customer/partner using Actual's technology for purchase data capture and engagement.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Actual competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Veryfi: Veryfi sells OCR SDKs and APIs for receipts, invoices and documents with machine-learning-based line-item extraction. It is the closest functional competitor to Actual Capture, targeting the same developer and enterprise customer base with on-device receipt OCR and structured data output.
- Yodlee: Yodlee provides aggregated financial-data APIs to consumer apps and financial institutions. Like Actual, it monetizes permissioned consumer data via SDK/API distribution to enterprise software platforms, addressing a similar 'infrastructure-for-consumer-apps' buyer.
- Plaid: Plaid provides API-driven data connectivity infrastructure (financial account linking) to consumer apps via SDKs and partner-first distribution. Actual mirrors this exact model for purchase/receipt data: partner-first, SDK/API, license-key enterprise sales. Same business model and go-to-market archetype.
- Numerator: Numerator aggregates verified consumer purchase data across retailers and channels for CPG brands and media buyers. It competes head-on with Actual's Purchase Intelligence offering by providing cross-retailer verified transaction insights to demand-side and brand customers.
- Akoya: Akoya is a financial-data-sharing API platform that lets consumers permission their bank, brokerage and merchant data to third-party apps. Its standardized, permission-based data connectivity model is structurally analogous to Actual Links' account-linking and email-linking rails.
Broad incumbents
- 1010data: 1010data delivers retail and CPG analytics on top of large-scale consumer purchase datasets, serving media and brand customers. It competes with Actual on the demand-side analytics workload, offering broader category coverage as an established incumbent rather than an SDK-first platform.
- Cardlytics: Cardlytics operates a purchase-intelligence platform powered by bank-card transaction data, serving advertisers with verified purchase audiences. It competes with Actual Activation for the same CPG/retail-media wallet but relies on bank rails rather than consumer-app SDKs.
- Circana (formerly IRI and NielsenIQ): Circana is the largest provider of CPG and retail measurement, including verified purchase data panels used for media planning and attribution. It addresses the same demand-side and CPG customers as Actual Purchase Intelligence, but as a broad incumbent portfolio rather than an API-first infrastructure play.
Emerging players
- Ibotta: Ibotta is a leading cashback rewards platform that itself uses Actual's receipt-scanning technology. It overlaps with Actual Activation's offer/reward monetization surface and represents both a core customer and an adjacent monetization competitor for CPG dollars.
- Rakuten (US): Rakuten operates the largest US cashback and receipt-based rewards app. While Actual provides the underlying receipt capture infrastructure, Rakuten owns the end-consumer monetization surface, making it a partial channel partner as well as a peripheral competitor in receipt-driven purchase monetization.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Actual social profiles
Digital presenceActual compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Actual financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Actual leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Actual funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Actual M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Actual
What does Actual do?
Actual provides AI-native purchase data infrastructure that captures, structures, and enriches purchase data from paper receipts (on-device OCR), digital email receipts (IMAP extraction), and 50+ retailer accounts, then activates that data through in-app monetization (contextual ads, offers, surveys). The platform is delivered to consumer app developers via iOS/Android SDKs, REST APIs, and webhook infrastructure under an enterprise licensing model.
Is Actual a public or private company?
Actual is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Actual founded?
Actual was founded in 2018. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Actual based?
Actual is headquartered in Brooklyn, United States, in the North America region.
How does Actual make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. SDK/API Licensing is the primary driver. The others are platform Services and Data Monetization.
Who are Actual's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Veryfi, Yodlee, Plaid, Numerator and Akoya. Broad incumbents are 1010data, Cardlytics and Circana (formerly IRI and NielsenIQ). Emerging players are Ibotta and Rakuten (US).
Does Actual have an API?
Yes. Actual offers REST APIs for receipt scanning and email receipt processing. The Scan API (v14) processes receipt images server-side, accepting image uploads or URLs and returning structured JSON with merchant, date, total, line items, payment method, and quality signals. The eReceipts API handles email receipt extraction. Both APIs require license keys and deliver results via webhooks. APIs are documented on SwaggerHub. Developer documentation is at app.swaggerhub.com/apis-docs/blinkreceipt/apiscan/14.
What industry is Actual in?
Actual's product category is Purchase Data Intelligence. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAAAKAB, OCR, ICR & Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), with a secondary code of BPAEAHAL, Data Monetization & Data Products Services. Its NAICS code is 518210 and its SIC code is 7374.