Grade
Grade is a YC Winter 2026 (W26) company. Based in San Francisco, CA, USA. Team of 2.
About Grade
Summary
Grade builds a payroll and payments API for companies that pay people based on work delivered rather than hours logged. Brands, agencies, and marketplaces use it to pay creators, influencers, and contractors once tasks or targets are met. Grade handles tax form collection, identity verification, compliance reporting, and global payouts, replacing manual payment workflows and in-house compliance processes.
Business model
No monthly fees; charges a fee on payouts processed.
Go-to-market
Brands, agencies, and marketplaces sign up directly via a self-serve flow; an API integration path serves platforms that want to embed payouts natively.
From the Y Combinator listing
API for performance-based payroll
Grade is the API for performance-based payroll. Think of us like Deel or Gusto, but our payouts are for work completed, not hours. Companies use Grade to pay AI agents and contractors based on results: tasks completed, targets hit, work delivered. We handle compliance, tax reporting, and global payouts.
Facts
- Fintech / Fintech
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- 2
- Active
- Early
Founders (2)
Score every batch against your own thesis
GPAgent's sourcing agent reads every company in a batch, scores each one against your fund's thesis in a private workspace, and lines up the founders worth meeting before Demo Day. You decide who to contact. Your scores, notes, and pipeline never appear on these pages.
How Accelerator intelligence works