Terms of Service

By creating an account or otherwise using foundergrade.ai, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and by our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy and Risk Disclosures. FounderGrade is operated by a DIFC-incorporated entity based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is pursuing a DFSA Innovation Testing Licence.

If you are using the platform on behalf of a company, you confirm you have authority to bind that company to these terms.

FounderGrade provides: blind double-expert credibility scoring for startups across eight dimensions, a directory and matching layer connecting founders, experts, investors and accelerators, deal room tooling including document templates and digital signature, milestone-gated escrow administered through audited smart contracts on an EVM-compatible network, and cohort management tools for accelerators.

We are a marketplace and technology provider. We are not a broker-dealer, investment adviser, bank or custodian, and nothing on the platform should be read as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy a security in any jurisdiction where that would be unlawful.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the platform. You must provide accurate information at registration and keep it current. All users must complete identity verification, KYC for individuals and KYB for companies, before taking any action that moves money or receives a payout.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately at security@foundergrade.ai if you suspect unauthorised access.

Credibility scores are produced by independent experts conducting blind review against eight fixed dimensions: team, market, product, traction, financials, scalability, risk and fundability. Scores reflect the reviewing experts' professional assessment at a point in time. They are not a guarantee of funding, performance or investment return.

Neither a score nor placement in the directory or matching results can be purchased. A founder may request a re-review through the appeals process described in our help centre; a re-review is conducted by a different pair of experts.

Founders: account creation and a company profile are free. A Single Expert Assessment is priced from $180 and a Blind Double Assessment from $450, in each case derived from the expert rate for the applicable calibration tier plus the service fee, quoted before you pay. A 1% success fee applies to the amount of a round that actually funds through FounderGrade. If you engage a specific expert from the directory instead of a platform match, you pay that expert's listed rate plus a 20% platform service fee, itemised before you commit.

Investors: a single 2.5% fee applies to capital funded through FounderGrade escrow, charged at the point of escrow funding. There is no carried interest, no listing fee and no charge for browsing the directory or diligence materials.

Experts: experts set their own rate for each service they offer and receive 100% of that rate. FounderGrade deducts nothing from an expert's earnings. Milestone verification is priced separately at an expert-set rate.

Accelerators: a monthly subscription starting at $199 per organisation, billed monthly with no setup fee and cancellable at any time.

Every fee we charge is published on our Pricing page. If a fee is not listed there, it does not exist and will not appear at signature.

Committed investment capital is held in a milestone-gated escrow enforced by audited smart contracts deployed to an EVM-compatible network. The specific network will be confirmed before launch. Capital is released in tranches only after a milestone is verified and approved under a 2-of-3 multisig scheme involving the founder, the investor and an independent party.

FounderGrade does not take custody of escrowed capital and does not charge interest, spread or carry on capital while it is held in escrow. On-chain transaction costs are negligible and are absorbed by us, not charged to users.

Blockchain transactions are irreversible once confirmed. You are responsible for reviewing transaction details before approving a release.

Disputes over whether a milestone has been met are first routed to our built-in dispute process, where an independent reviewer examines the submitted evidence and issues a decision on whether the disputed tranche releases or returns to the investor.

For disputes that are not resolved through that process, the laws of the DIFC apply and the DIFC Courts have exclusive jurisdiction, unless a separate agreement between the parties specifies otherwise.

You agree not to submit false or materially misleading information for scoring, misrepresent your identity or authority, attempt to reverse-engineer the blind review process, circumvent the platform to avoid fees on a matched deal, or use the platform for money laundering, sanctions evasion or any unlawful purpose.

We may suspend or terminate an account that violates these terms, with notice where practicable, and may report suspected unlawful activity to the relevant authorities.

FounderGrade and its licensors own the platform, including the scoring methodology, software and branding. You retain ownership of the pitch materials, documents and content you upload. By submitting content for scoring or matching, you grant us a limited licence to use it to operate the service, including sharing it with the specific experts, investors or accelerators involved in your process.

The platform is provided on an as-is and as-available basis. We do not guarantee that a score, a match or a deal will result in funding or a successful outcome. Credibility scores reflect expert opinion, not a warranty of future performance, and should not be the sole basis for an investment decision. See our Risk Disclosures for further detail specific to investing.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, FounderGrade is not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising from use of the platform, including loss of profits or loss of capital invested in a company discovered through FounderGrade. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, such as liability for fraud.

We may update these terms from time to time. We will post the updated effective date at the top of this page and notify account holders by email of any material change. Continued use of the platform after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

For questions about these terms, contact us at legal@foundergrade.ai, or write to FounderGrade, DIFC Innovation Hub, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.