Startups > Grin

Grin

GRIN helps DTC brands manage influencer relationships with direct revenue attribution.

Series B $145M total Founded 2014 United States

GRIN is an end-to-end creator management platform that helps DTC brands find, engage, and manage relationships with influencers at scale. The platform streamlines influencer outreach, manages creator relationships through a private CRM, automates product seeding, tracks content rights, and provides revenue attribution through direct e-commerce integration with Shopify and Magento. Unlike transactional platforms, GRIN focuses on building authentic, relationship-based partnerships while eliminating traditional rev-share fees. The platform recently launched GIA, an agentic AI system to automate campaign workflows and optimize creator engagement.

Problem solved

DTC brands struggle to manage influencer relationships at scale, lack visibility into campaign ROI and creator content rights, and overpay through rev-share fees on platforms that don't integrate with their e-commerce backend.

Target customer

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands with $5M+ revenue using Shopify or Magento, ranging from scaling startups to enterprise retailers seeking relationship-based influencer marketing programs.

Website LinkedIn Crunchbase

Founders

Brandon Brown

CEO & Co-Founder

Former Red Bull field marketing manager (5.5 years) who led a 60-person team before starting GRIN; previously Account Manager at Aarki. Led GRIN from founding through $1B valuation and $145M raised before exiting in 2024.

Brian Mechem

Co-Founder & Director

Co-founder with limited public background information available.

Ryan Brown

Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder

Directed engineering and technical strategy as CTO, establishing GRIN as category leader in creator management software.

Funding history

Seed $6M 2019 Led by Unknown · Unknown

Series A $10M December 2020 Led by e.ventures · MVMT Watches, Liquid IV, Kopari Beauty, Leesa, Rhone founders

Series A Extension $16M May 2021 Led by Imaginary Ventures · Good Friends Venture Capital (Allbirds, Warby Parker, Harry's founders), existing investors

Series B $110M October 13, 2021 Led by Lone Pine Capital · BOND Capital, The Chainsmokers, Devon Levesque, Imaginary Ventures

Total raised: $145M

Industries

Analytics E-Commerce Marketing Social Media Marketing

Pricing

Starts at approximately $2,500/month for standard plans. Enterprise pricing ranges $25K-$40K annually with custom options available. No free trial; annual commitment required. 2026 model introduces tiered pricing from Free Trial through Complete package. Does not charge rev-share on creator sales unlike competitors.

Notable customers

SKIMS, Warby Parker, Allbirds, Mejuri, MVMT Watches, Fashion Nova, Liquid IV, Cuts Clothing, Boiron, Nutpods

Integrations

Shopify, Magento, private CRM system, agentic AI platform (GIA)

Website

grin.co/

Competitors

impact.com

Broader affiliate and partnership platform; less specialized in influencer relationship management and creator-focused workflows.

CreatorIQ

Focuses on creator discovery and campaign management; lacks GRIN's direct e-commerce integration and revenue attribution capabilities.

Captiv8

Platform-agnostic influencer marketing tool; doesn't integrate with e-commerce backends for automated workflow and sales attribution.

Humanz

Community-driven influencer network; positioned more as marketplace than comprehensive management and automation platform.

Ubiquitous

Influencer discovery and analytics focused; lacks relationship management CRM and backend e-commerce automation.

Why this matters: GRIN scaled to $1B valuation and $145M funding by solving a real pain point for DTC brands—managing influencer relationships authentically while eliminating opaque rev-share fees. The recent launch of GIA (agentic AI) positions GRIN at the intersection of creator management and AI automation, likely influencing how the category evolves.

Best for: DTC brands with significant influencer marketing budgets seeking to replace transactional platforms with relationship-based management, automate workflows through e-commerce integration, and gain transparent revenue attribution without rev-share fees.

Use cases

Multi-creator campaign orchestration at scale

A fashion brand manages 250+ active creators posting weekly content. GRIN's platform automatically tracks content creation, manages discount codes and affiliate links, and attributes sales back to each creator. The integrated CRM ensures consistent relationship management and prevents duplicate outreach across teams.

Influencer seeding with ROI tracking

A supplement brand seeds products to 100+ micro-influencers and mid-tier creators. GRIN automates the fulfillment workflow, tracks unique discount codes for each creator, and reports exact revenue and engagement metrics per influencer. Teams can quickly identify top performers and reallocate budget accordingly.

Content rights management and reporting

A DTC apparel company generates 3,000+ pieces of creator content annually. GRIN centralizes content rights tracking, usage reporting, and repurposing workflows while providing stakeholders with comprehensive campaign performance dashboards showing impressions, engagement, and attributed revenue.

Alternatives

impact.com Choose if you need a broader affiliate network spanning multiple channel types beyond influencers; GRIN is more specialized for creator-first DTC programs.

CreatorIQ Choose if discovery and campaign planning are your primary needs without requiring deep e-commerce backend integration and revenue attribution.

Captiv8 Choose if you need a platform-agnostic solution that works across multiple social networks without strong e-commerce automation requirements.

FAQ

What does GRIN do? +

GRIN is a creator management platform that helps DTC brands find, engage, and manage influencer relationships at scale. It integrates with Shopify and Magento to automate product seeding, track content rights, manage creator CRM relationships, and provide revenue attribution. The platform recently launched GIA, an AI system that automates campaign workflows and optimizes creator engagement.

How much does GRIN cost? +

GRIN's pricing starts at approximately $2,500/month for standard plans, with enterprise pricing ranging $25K-$40K annually. Custom plans are available upon demo request. The platform requires an annual commitment and does not offer free trials. A new 2026 pricing model introduces tiered options from Free Trial through Complete packages.

What are alternatives to GRIN? +

Top alternatives include impact.com (broader affiliate platform), CreatorIQ (creator discovery and campaign management), Captiv8 (platform-agnostic influencer marketing), Humanz (influencer network), and Ubiquitous (discovery and analytics). GRIN differentiates through direct e-commerce integration, relationship-focused CRM, and no rev-share fees.

Who uses GRIN? +

DTC brands with significant influencer budgets use GRIN, including SKIMS, Warby Parker, Allbirds, Mejuri, MVMT Watches, Fashion Nova, Liquid IV, and Cuts Clothing. The platform serves scaling startups through enterprise retailers seeking relationship-based influencer programs with transparent ROI.

How does GRIN compare to CreatorIQ? +

GRIN specializes in relationship-based creator management with direct Shopify/Magento integration for workflow automation and revenue attribution. CreatorIQ focuses more on creator discovery and campaign planning without deep e-commerce backend integration. GRIN's CRM and sales attribution make it better for DTC brands requiring transparent ROI; CreatorIQ works better for discovery-focused workflows.