Canada-based non-dilutive capital provider Clearco has secured $215m in a funding round led by internet and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and backed by accounting software provider Intuit.
The round also featured investment firm Park West and Bow Capital, a venture capital partner of University of California. It brought the company’s overall equity funding to $385m.
Founded in 2015 as Clearbanc, Clearco offers financing products dedicated to e-commerce, mobile apps and software-as-a-service providers, including equity-free investments between $10,000 and $10m.
The capital is provided through the company’s “20-minute term sheet,” a platform that uses algorithms to review applicants’ marketing and revenue data and make financing available in 24 hours.
Clearco also provides access to a global network of contacts, insights, data-driven advice and recommendations, to help founders plan how to spend the capital raised and optimise their companies’ growth.
The funding will accelerate Clearco’s expansion and market penetration, while further broadening its suite of financing solutions and growth-dedicated services. It also announced the appointment of Satwik Seshasai as chief technology officer and Katrina Shackelford as vice-president of product.
The round comes in the wake of a $100m series C in April 2021 at a valuation of nearly $2bn, raised alongside $250m of debt financing from National Bank subsidiary Credigy. Oak HC/FT led the equity round, which included Founders Circle and executives from Stripe, Square, Affirm, Adyen, Robinhood, Betterment, Airbnb, Hubspot, AirWallex and Apple.
The company had previously secured $50m of equity funding in a July 2019 series B round led by Highland Capital and backed by Arcadia, iNovia and Emergence Capital. It was secured together with $250m of capital raised from limited partners for Clearco’s third fund.
ClearCo had already received $70m in series A funding from investors including Emergence Capital, Social Capital, CoVenture, Founders Fund and 8VC in 2018.
Andrew D’Souza, Clearco’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “We have invested over $2.4bn in nearly 5,500 companies with a platform we know our founders need, and this round allows us to continue building a world-class suite of services that founders deserve to grow their business.”