Spade YC Application

Winter 2022Active

Spade went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2022 batch as a Fintech company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Winter 2022
Industry: Fintech
Team size: 25
Status: Active
Launched: 2022

Founders

Oban MacTavishFounder

What Spade does

Spade is the next generation of fintech infrastructure. We’re building a financial data enrichment API purpose built to empower our customers to uncover the truth hidden within their transaction data. We use our vast, ground-truth merchant data set to decipher cryptic transactions, helping customers underwrite, detect fraud, build better banking infrastructure and get a unique understanding of their users’ spending habits.

Spade's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Spade, Winter 2022 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Spade

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Enriched transaction data you can build on

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We offer a financial data enrichment API that interprets raw transaction data into meaningful, labeled merchant insights. This helps customers who underwrite loans, detect fraud, or build banking products by turning cryptic financial records into clear, actionable data.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We live in New York, NY, and will keep the company based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

New York is where we built our early product and customer base. Being here keeps us close to fintech partners and talent we rely on.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real Spade YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from Spade's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like Spade would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.