Ballerine

Agentic Intelligence Layer for Merchant Risk Decisions

2.1Score#649 of 999 agents#11 of 15 in Financial-crime analyst

Why it ranks #649

Ballerine, an AI financial-crime analyst from YC S22, ranks #649 of 999 AI agents and #11 of 15 in Financial-crime analyst, with a score of 2.1 of 10. Data as of 3 Oct 2026.

The score adds four parts, each 0 to 10, by weight. Every point comes from public evidence. How scoring works ·

Proof 0 × 30% 0.0
Scale 4 × 30% 1.2
Momentum 0 × 25% 0.0
Autonomy 6 × 15% 0.9
= 2.1

Proof
Do customers use it? 30% of the score
0
No public claims of customers or revenue yet.
Not found: revenue or growth (+4), named customers (+3), a customer result (+2), a customer count (+2), work done at scale (+2)
Scale
Is there a real company behind it? 30% of the score
4
16 people.
- +4
  16 people on its YC page10 to 19 people
Not found: funding round in its news (+3)
Momentum
Is it shipping and growing now? 25% of the score
0
Nothing new in the last 6 months.
Not found: launch YC post in the last 6 months (+3), open roles on YC (+2), new traction claim in the last 6 months (+2), funding news in the last year (+2), a batch in the last year (it is YC Summer 2022) (+1)
Autonomy
How much of the job does it do on its own? 15% of the score
6
Supervised agent: takes actions in other systems; a person approves key steps.
- +6
  Level 2 of 4: Supervised agentTakes actions in other systems; a person approves key steps.
What the model read
- Acts in other systems: 41% likely
- Finishes whole tasks: 25% likely
- Calls itself an agent: 99% likely
- Level 1 from the model's reading of its pages; the evidence review found, with quotes, that its AI acts in the work, so the level is 2
Level 2: Takes actions in other systems; a person approves key steps.

About Ballerine

Ballerine is an AI-native risk intelligence platform built for financial institutions, acquirers, and payment providers that need to underwrite and monitor merchants at scale in real time.

Instead of relying on fragmented point solutions, Ballerine unifies data from business registries, transaction patterns, sanctions lists, and web intelligence into one composable infrastructure.

Its AI Agents continuously analyze these signals to deliver dynamic and explainable risk assessments across the merchant lifecycle. With a modular architecture, teams can automate underwriting, detect emerging risks, and monitor merchant behavior while aligning to their own policies and compliance frameworks.

Unlike traditional systems with static models, Ballerine’s AI Agents learn and adapt from live data, uncovering changes in merchant behavior that indicate fraud, laundering, or non-compliance.

Already deployed across multiple regions, Ballerine has enabled acquirers and fintechs to accelerate underwriting decisions, reduce manual reviews, and cut false positives, redefining how modern institutions manage merchant risk.