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NICKL
Techstars '19Brooklyn, US · Founded 2017 · 20 employees on LinkedIn · 9 known investors
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Nicklpass provides a platform for organizations to centralize the management, governance, and purchasing of digital tools and SaaS subscriptions across their teams. The platform helps companies control access, track usage, and coordinate procurement to reduce waste and costs.
Also known as Nic.kl · Nickl · Nicklpass · NICKLpass
Founders & leadership
Investors · 9
How we know: Delaware Crossing Investor Group's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Digital Currency Group's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Green Egg Ventures's portfolio page · the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Reign Ventures's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: RiverPark Ventures's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026Nicklpass operates a subscription control platform that sits on top of an organization's existing stack and links financial spend data to actual software usage. Spend discovery works through connections to bank and card accounts via Plaid and to QuickBooks, resolving vendors automatically — including tools purchased on personal cards — to surface total spend and duplicate tools. Usage discovery draws on Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 sign-in activity and third-party app authorizations, supplemented by a browser extension that can be force-installed from the admin console on managed Chrome browsers for deeper usage signals. The product surfaces overlap, redundancy and underutilization, for example flagging multiple overlapping CRM tools or numerous retail-tier AI subscriptions bought on personal cards that could be consolidated into a group plan.
A third capability, Agentic Actions, is offered in beta: software agents cancel unused subscriptions, reclaim idle licenses and de-provision access when employees leave or change roles, with each action logged alongside the dollars it returned. Nicklpass also offers procurement services — coordinated purchasing, negotiated rates and group subscriptions across teams — and supports enterprise rollouts integrated with SSO or MDM systems, including usage intelligence for desktop applications.
The company's earlier and still-marketed NICKLpass product is a digital, multi-team pass providing single-login access to premium news platforms, including titles such as the Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, TechCrunch, The Information, Forbes, Fortune, Time, Wired and the LA Times, across mobile and desktop, positioned as a way for teams to read news without paywalls.
Founding story
Third-party research describes the company as founded in 2017 with the aim of widening access to news by removing paywall barriers, initially delivering NICKLpass, a digital multi-team pass giving individuals and organizations single-login access to premium news platforms.
Business model
Nicklpass sells software to organizations on a recurring, per-headcount basis, complemented by usage-based charges for agent-executed actions beyond an included allowance and by procurement services that coordinate purchasing and negotiated rates for group subscriptions. Its news-access product is offered as a subscription content pass covering teams under one login.
Nicklpass Pro is priced at $48 per employee per year ($4 per employee per month, billed annually) with no tiers or feature gates, covering the customer's full headcount; the plan includes 200 agentic actions per company per year, after which each additional action costs $1.99, billed when taken. Multi-year discounts and non-profit rates are available for registered 501(c)(3) organizations, and organizations above 15,000 people are directed to sales.
Traction
Third-party sources report 16 employees as of February 2024 and an 11-50 employee band as of September 2026. The company's website states that organizations can achieve up to 30% average savings on subscription spend and that one reclaimed license typically returns about $240 annually; the news pass is marketed as covering 200+ publications under a single login with savings of up to 70% on premium content.
Latest developments
Agentic Actions are offered in beta, with 200 actions free while coverage expands and overage billed at $1.99 per action when the action is taken. The company also promotes a procurement offering covering coordinated purchasing, negotiated rates and group subscriptions, and enterprise deployments integrated with SSO or MDM systems, including desktop-application usage intelligence.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Nicklpass frames its market around the roughly $120 billion spent annually on digital tools at an average 47% utilization rate, citing the Zylo 2024 SaaS Management Index, and positions itself as a control layer joining spend, usage and automated remediation rather than a replacement for existing systems. Third-party company research lists Overlooked, NewsBasis, Zette and theSkimm among similar companies, reflecting the company's news-access origins.
The platform pairs spend data with directly observed usage — combining workspace sign-in activity with a browser extension that captures deeper usage signals and identifies subscriptions bought on personal cards — and closes the loop with agents that execute cancellations, license reclamation and de-provisioning, logging the dollars recovered per action. Pricing is a single flat per-employee rate without tiers, feature gates or seat negotiation.
Technology
The platform integrates with Plaid for bank and card transaction data and with QuickBooks for expenses and vendors, and with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 (including Microsoft Entra) to sync users, permissions, authorized third-party apps and sign-in activity. A browser extension, force-installable on managed Chrome browsers through the Google Workspace admin console, provides usage detail beyond SSO sign-in data and detects personal-card subscriptions on managed machines. Automated agents execute actions such as subscription cancellation, license reclamation and access de-provisioning, logging the value returned by each.
Go-to-market
The company markets through its website with a free assessment and demo requests, self-serve sign-up, and a direct sales motion for enterprise rollouts, large headcounts and procurement engagements. Deployment is positioned as low-friction — connecting finance accounts, connecting the workspace, and pushing the browser extension from the admin console without employee action. An earlier go-to-market included participation in the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator powered by Techstars and an affiliation with The News Literacy Project supplying subscriptions to educators.
Organizations of any size that buy digital tools and SaaS subscriptions, with finance, operations and IT administrators as the primary buyers; enterprise rollouts integrated with SSO or MDM are supported, and separate rates exist for registered non-profits and for organizations above 15,000 employees. Third-party profiles describe enterprises, publishers and educators as target segments for the news-access product.
Geography
Headquarters are reported in Brooklyn, New York, United States, with founder and CEO listed in Brooklyn, NY; one third-party profile instead lists Philadelphia, PA.
History
Founded in 2017 around paywall-free news access, the company joined the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator powered by Techstars in 2019 and was listed in its portfolio with Zaza Sumorwuo as founder and CEO. Third-party profiles report an affiliation with The News Literacy Project providing subscriptions to educators and recognition by Fast Company among innovative media and tech companies. The current website presents a broader subscription-governance control panel spanning spend intelligence, usage intelligence and agentic actions, alongside a procurement offering and the continuing multi-publication news pass.
Risks & controversies
Public data on the company is inconsistent: headquarters is reported as Brooklyn, New York in some profiles and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in another, and reported funding totals differ materially between third-party aggregators. Agentic Actions remain in beta with coverage still expanding, and several savings and utilization figures on the company's site are illustrative or drawn from a third-party industry index.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 4
launches, deals, and filingsThird-party profile reports recognition by Fast Company as one of the most innovative companies in media and technology.
Reported affiliation under which subscriptions are provided to educators to support news literacy among students.
Nicklpass introduced agent-driven actions — cancelling unused subscriptions, reclaiming idle licenses and de-provisioning access — in beta, with 200 actions included per year and $1.99 per action thereafter.
Nicklpass was selected for the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, powered by Techstars, and is listed in the program's portfolio with founder Zaza Sumorwuo (Brooklyn, NY).
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- NICKLnicklpass.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does NICKL do?
- Nicklpass is a Brooklyn-based platform that connects SaaS spend with actual usage to help organizations govern subscriptions.
- Who are NICKL's investors?
- NICKL's investors include Delaware Crossing Investor Group, Digital Currency Group, Green Egg Ventures, Hustle Fund, Reign Ventures, RiverPark Ventures, Sixty8 Capital, Techstars and 1 more.
- Where is NICKL headquartered?
- NICKL is headquartered in Brooklyn, US.