Clearbanc has a lot more to offer than just being a source of capital, and has been keeping plenty busy by launching a suite of new products for budding e-commerce and software entrepreneurs this past year.
Which is why Clearbanc has rebranded to Clearco, to reflect its broader platform that not only invests in ecommerce and software companies, but also provides products and services as well. Along with the rebrand came a fresh $100 million Series C equity funding round to propel Clearco’s expansion, a news release shows.
The latest funding round, which was led by Oak HC/FT, brings Clearco’s valuation to nearly $2 billion. Clearco also raised $250 million in debt as well. The funding round also brought a slew of notable new investors, including executives from Stripe, Square, Affirm, Adyen, Robinhood, Betterment, Airbnb, Hubspot, AirWallex and Apple.
Clearco is known for its 20-minute term sheet that provides marketing capital from $10,000 to $10 million for e-commerce founders, but it has a suite of other products that aims to address entrepreneurs’ varying needs.
For instance, it has a “ClearInventory Capital” product where Clearco will buy a founder’s inventory and the founder pays it back as it sells through for cost plus 6%, allowing founders “to pay as they grow.” Clearco also launched ClearAngel, giving early stage founders access to revenue share capital, its network and advice.
Clearco Co-Founder and CEO Andrew D’Souza told FinLedger that the company has funded more than 4,500 businesses and has turned away 50,000. With this rebrand, he said that the investment component is still the vast majority of its business, but is looking to bolster its product side as well.
“What we’re trying to do is build a much deeper relationship with the founders that we’re backing,” D’Souza said. “That can include capital, but it also may not. We’re realizing that we wanted people to think of us as more of a partner and more of a long-term supporter where capital is part of the entire experience and package.”
Although the company isn’t profitable and D’Souza wouldn’t share its annual recurring revenue metrics, it has deployed over $2 billion to more than 4,500 founders. The company charges about a 6% fee on the capital. Although Clearco laid off 17 employees in April 2020 TechCrunch reported, it now has nearly 300 employees now and plans to double its headcount in the next year.
D’Souza explained that the company’s strategy is to help founders from the earlier part of their journey and help provide their own products to the point where they “outgrow traditional sources of financing and think about making acquisitions.”
“We think we can help them through every stage of the business’s lifecycle,” he said.
In other funding news, payment processing company Candex has raised a new $20 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Altos Ventures with participation from other notable investors like NFX, American Express Ventures and JP Morgan.