Spade

Spade operates a transaction data and AI platform for financial institutions and fintechs. Its core function is to take raw, inconsistent transaction strings — cryptic merchant descriptors, category codes that vary by payment rail, and mismatched merchant names — and convert them into structured, verified records that include merchant identity, category and precise location context. The company describes a unified data layer that links payments to real-world context, and states it avoids fuzzy-logic guesswork in favor of ground-truth records, complemented by models, tooling and AI agents that let customers apply enriched data across their products.

The platform is organized around several use cases: real-time risk and authorization decisions, where enriched merchant and location data is returned during authorization; rewards and attribution, where merchant- and location-level detail supports targeted programs; analytics and AI, where consistent merchant context spans cards, transfers and third-party sources to power personalization, offers and cross-sell; and end-user experience, where clearer charge descriptions help customers recognize transactions and contact merchants before filing a dispute. Spade is delivered as an API that the company positions as quick to integrate and automatically scaling.

On security, Spade states it encrypts data at rest and in transit, follows SOC 2 standards, and does not handle personally identifiable information — only the transaction data customers submit for enrichment.

Founding story

Spade was founded to address a gap the company frames as data availability outpacing data quality: as payments modernized, fintechs and financial institutions faced inconsistent merchant names, categories that changed by rail, and unreadable descriptor strings. Founder and CEO Oban MacTavish previously co-founded Hubly, a vertical SaaS platform for independent registered investment advisers.

Business model

Spade sells enrichment and data infrastructure to financial institutions and fintechs, delivered via API and accessed through a sales-led motion ("Contact sales"), with self-serve developer documentation for integration.

Revenue comes from selling transaction enrichment via its API and data platform to banks, fintechs, platforms and AI companies.

Traction

Spade says it enriches billions of transactions monthly for fintechs and Fortune 500 banks. Bilt's president cites Spade's merchant data as underpinning rewards on more than $5 billion in neighborhood spend on Bilt's platform; Coast's co-founder and CEO cites real-time controls that reduce false declines on fuel purchases and save customers tens of thousands of dollars, with average annual savings reported for fleets of 10+ vehicles; Mercury is cited for automated transaction categorization. The company also states that one in three US startups relies on transaction data it enriches. Team size is listed at 30.

Latest developments

A $40 million raise for transaction data enrichment was reported in March 2026. The company continues to hire across engineering, finance and customer support, and has added senior leaders including CRO Lauren Crossett, who joined as an operator after nearly three years advising Spade.