We're happy to announce that Clerky has agreed to join Stripe!

We started Clerky more than a decade ago because we believed startups and their attorneys should be able to get routine startup paperwork done quickly, easily, and without causing problems for legal due diligence. As startup attorneys in Silicon Valley, we saw how our clients would try to get paperwork done faster and cheaper, but ended up paying us more in the end to fix everything. We started Clerky to provide the experience our clients were looking for, but with our legal expertise built into the products.

Today, Clerky is the most popular online legal service for top startups and their attorneys. Clerky startups account for 23% of all Silicon Valley seed / pre-seed financings and have raised over $140 billion in aggregate venture capital. Hundreds of attorneys and paralegals are working with their clients on Clerky. Startup formation on Clerky grew 6.5x faster in the past year than our historical average. Along the way, we've gotten to know many platforms in the startup ecosystem, including Stripe. The more we got to know the team at Stripe, the more we found similarities, not only between our culture and beliefs, but also in our shared mission to help the startup ecosystem.

As a part of Stripe, Clerky will continue to build on this momentum with the same team and the same focus we've always had: helping high-growth startups and their attorneys get routine legal paperwork done safely. And we'll continue providing the same high level of service to startups and attorneys that we do today.

We know that startups trust us with their most important legal paperwork and rely on us in their most important moments. Stripe has spent over 15 years building infrastructure that startups depend on and is one of the most startup-aligned companies in the world. With this strong fit, we're very excited for Stripe to be our long-term home.

Thank you to all the startup founders and attorneys that have been a part of our journey to date. We all want life to be easier for startups, and your support has always been critical in enabling our work toward that. We'll now have more resources to leverage in building new products and features for you, and we can't wait.

For many non-US founders, forming a US startup is the same as it is for US founders: incorporate a Delaware corporation, issue founder stock, file an 83(b) election, get an EIN, open a bank account. Plenty of founders living outside the US can follow that exact path with no trouble.

But for others, it isn't that simple. Depending on where a founder lives, tax regulations, immigration law, and currency controls can make the standard approach unworkable. Until now, founders in this position have been doing one of two things: working with an attorney or using an online legal service marketed toward non-US founders.

Working with an attorney who has the right country-specific experience is an excellent approach. Two things have made it hard, though. First, very few attorneys specialize in any one country's cross-border formation, so finding the right one is difficult. Second, the rare attorney who does this work has had no easy way to streamline it, which has kept the process manual and time-consuming.

The other approach has been to use an online legal service marketed toward non-US founders. The problem is the paperwork they produce for non-US founders is the same as what they produce for US founders.

Our Solution

We've been bothered by this status quo for years and are pleased to introduce our solution: the ability for country-specific experts to build custom online legal services for specific situations, using Clerky products as modular building blocks. It's finally possible to combine country-specific expertise with the speed and accessibility of an online legal service.

These services can include the same products US startups use by default on Clerky. They can also choose from a selection of products designed for less common scenarios, previously available only to law firms.

This new approach also benefits from the unique infrastructure we have for non-US founders. As an example, these custom online legal services can integrate our Managed 83(b) Election add-on. This is the only way non-US founders can obtain USPS-postmarked certified mail receipts for 83(b) elections through an online legal service.

Inkle Incorporate

Inkle is the first to build on this new approach with their launch of Inkle Incorporate, an online legal service for US-India cross-border startups.

Because of tax regulations, immigration law, and currency controls in India, founders of these startups can't safely form a US entity the same way US founders would. So Inkle worked closely with legal and tax specialists in both the US and India to build a custom online legal service for exactly this situation, using Clerky products for the US paperwork.

Inkle is a natural fit for this. It's a tax and accounting platform used by many of the fastest-growing US-India cross-border startups, including half of all YC companies in India. Most Indian companies in YC's S26 batch have already used Inkle Incorporate to form their startups, with more on the way.

We're excited to see where Inkle Incorporate goes from here. If you're an expert interested in building something similar for founders in another country, we'd like to hear from you. Or if you're a startup founder in India and want to form a US entity, check out Inkle Incorporate.

We're excited to share that Lowenstein Sandler has launched a tailored startup formation experience for their clients, built on Clerky. Lowenstein is a national law firm with one of the top 10 most active startup practices in the US. Founders working with Lowenstein can now form their startup online through a co-branded workspace with a curated mix of standard Clerky products and custom Lowenstein products.

Now, when founders work with Lowenstein to form a new startup, their attorney can invite them to a Lowenstein workspace on Clerky. There, they'll get the same underlying software all Clerky startups get, co-branded with Lowenstein's logo and subdomain. Founders can then incorporate, set up their board, appoint officers, issue shares to founders, enter into confidentiality and intellectual property agreements, and adopt a stock plan. 

Throughout the experience, Lowenstein attorneys will be available to clients, leveraging Clerky's built-in collaboration features. They can review paperwork, flag issues, and answer questions on the platform, providing clients with legal advice coupled with our software. After completing formation paperwork, Lowenstein clients will also have access to banking integrations and valuable perks for Clerky startups.

We pride ourselves on responsibly leading innovation for startup legal paperwork and are proud to be now helping innovative law firms like Lowenstein lead the way for their clients. Startups and their attorneys are increasingly working together to get legal paperwork done more efficiently, and this is an exciting leap forward in that journey.

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Here's what's new:

You can now open a Ramp account and get a cash bonus

Ramp has joined our ecosystem of banking platforms. You can now start an application through Clerky in just one click and get up to $1,750 in bonuses: $1,000 after a $25k Ramp Treasury deposit, plus $750 after your first $1k balance payment (both within 90 days).

IRS EIN processing time tracker for non-US founders

Non-US founders and others applying for an EIN by fax can now check live IRS processing times on Clerky. Our auto-updating status page shows projections based on the applications we process in-house, providing you the most accurate estimate available.

New and updated perks

• Google Workspace — 20% off for the first 6 months
• Inkle — Updated: 25% off bookkeeping for 6 months, plus free FBAR, Form 7004, and Form 1099 filings when you subscribe to Inkle Tax Standard and use Inkle to file Form 1120
• Xero — 6 months free

You can view these perks by going to Perks for your team.

You can now start a Ramp application in one click, right through Clerky. Ramp will even pre-fill the form with information from your legal paperwork to save you time. And once your account is open, we'll store your wire instructions so they're ready to go when you raise your seed round.

To celebrate, Ramp is offering Clerky startups up to $2,000 in cash bonuses. You can earn $1,500 when you deposit $250k or more in Ramp Treasury and spend $10k on your Ramp card within 90 days (or just deposit $750k or more in Ramp Treasury). You can then get another $500 after your first $1k balance payment.

Here's what startups can get with Ramp:

• No personal guarantee — Ramp underwrites based on your startup's financials, not your personal credit
• 2% APY on a fully liquid FDIC-insured account with Ramp Treasury
• Deep integrations with QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, and Sage Intacct

You can start your application today by going to Banking for your team and selecting Ramp.

Here's what's new:

New and updated perks

• ‍Asana — Updated! This perk is now so good they won't let us say more here, but you can find all the details on Clerky.‍
• ‍Common Paper — New! 50% off first 3 months
• ‍Drata — New! 25% off first contract ‍
• Framer — New! Free for 1 year‍
• Uber for Business — New! Up to 10% off eligible business rides (5 per employee)

New Maintenance product for PBC startups

PBC startups on Clerky can now change their corporate name, number of authorized shares, or par value even before they have directors. This product is available to PBC startups by request as well as to all Attorney accounts. If your startup is a PBC and you'd like to use this, please reach out to our support team.‍