About lender
Clearco was founded in 2015 as Clearbank in Toronto by a group of inspired co-investors: Michele Romanow, Andrew D'Souza, Ivan Gritsiniak, Charlie Feng, and Tanay Delima. They created a company that met sensitive financing needs in a promising but risky business area: e-commerce.
This platform is an alternative source of financing on an e-commerce-friendly basis. It is a commercial project with transparent fees and financing terms tailored for each eligible project after a detailed analysis. Clearco has already extended $3 billion to more than 7,000 businesses.
Pros and cons
Pros
Clearco offers some products for free:
The insights and benchmarking tool helps track sales metrics and results from ad campaigns to see if you are headed in the right direction and to see your current starting point;
ClearMatch is a tool that makes it easy to find partners that match your goals based on your performance metrics;
Clearco provides financial solutions for e-commerce businesses;
The financing terms are not only tailored to the needs of the client company but also take into account its ability to develop and repay the loan;
The possibility of financing inventories;
Access to a world-class multi-currency payment system with access to global accounts in 5 countries and 11 currencies and the ability to make transfers to more than 130 countries to known or unknown recipients;
Ability to have cards issued in local currencies to use the money for business;
Transparent fee policy;
The company is an open door for information and experience, the possibility of receiving professional advice from an experienced team;
The possibility to request offers for different financing solutions and choose the one that suits you without pressure;
The lender is on the same page as its customers. Its investors also have experience in start-ups, e-commerce, and large-scale financing. As a result, they are ready to support your development rather than just selling a financial service to make a profit margin.
The possibility of determining the timing and amount of repayments yourself, i.e., repayments are linked to your cash-flow situation;
Significant amounts of funding (up to $20 million for marketing capital);
Quick access to funding (it is stated that this can even happen within 24 hours).
The financing solutions offered by Clearco are flexible for e-commerce. Still, as you know, no lender can meet all expectations, and things that are considered advantages by most people may be regarded as disadvantages by others. Below we offer you to take a look at some of the things that could be regarded as disadvantages when working with the company.
Cons
You should link your business accounts to Clearco's system, and some people might consider it risky to share data with third parties;
When you connect to Clearco through your Gmail or another account, you must provide access to your Google financials, review your data, including publicly available data;
Insight into your main Gmail account;
Review and download of your phone numbers, which could be considered a security issue or a matter of trust to the lender (depending on how you view such requirements);
If you do not set up an account, you will not even come close to seeing which loans you qualify for since the lender has no way to analyze your business yet;
Some customers may find the repayment terms, which are linked to income, too flexible and relaxing compared to the bank's strict payment plans, which act like a whip;
Without a connection to Clearco, you can only get general information for considering such a financing option. On the one hand, it is intended to be personalized, but on the other hand, with classic lenders, you can instantly see loan product descriptions and compare options for yourself.
On the one hand, Clearco is an advanced financial services provider that specializes in e-commerce support, so you can work with a team that understands your business, which is a plus, as is the ability to connect with peers, find partners, and retain your equity, but on the other hand, it can be seen as a disadvantage that without setting up an account on Clearco web page and giving them access to your business accounts, you'll not receive information about funding opportunities and your eligibility.
Loan conditions
According to open sources, this lender does not apply less stringent criteria for subsequent loans. Instead, each project is analyzed by Clearco, and then they decide which financing solutions can be offered.
The first step on the way to funding is to create an account on the Clearco website.
The next step is related to the first one, as you must consent to view your data, the results of promotional campaigns, etc.
For inventory financing products, the borrower's sales and marketing data is analyzed after permission is granted to access the data and documents provided;
If the company is eligible for financing, funds are released to make payments directly to inventory suppliers through the Clearco Pay Vendor Service.
The repayment period is four months from the date of prepayment.
Payments are made from daily receipts.
However, since this is a commercial financing solution, the borrower must pay an 8% fee on the amount borrowed.
Repayment to Clearco is made after two days to the Clearco account (holidays are not considered).
The lender should be informed if a borrower works in e-commerce only with e-commerce channels such as Amazon, etc. The repayment schedule may be adjusted accordingly.
A Marketing Capital loan allows you to boost your campaign to attract new customers, increase sales, etc. In addition, Clearco generates potential financial offers for revenue sharing.
The compensation for using borrowed funds is 8% of the borrowed amount and 14% for all other expenses.
Advances can be used like a virtual VISA card or paid directly through the vendor service offered by Clearco.
The terms provide that repayment begins two days after the borrower receives the advance. In addition, the loan agreement provides an agreed repayment rate as a percentage of the borrower's weekly net sales.
For companies that work exclusively with e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, etc., the repayment procedure is agreed upon separately with the lender.
Methods of loan funding
Clearco provides funding directly to the borrower via the virtual VISA card or arranges payment to Pay a Vendor, which transfers the money directly to the vendor.
There is no information on direct cash receipts, but the money transferred to the borrower can be used at the customer's discretion within limits set in the credit agreement.
Invoices for repayment issued by Clearco are to be paid from the borrower's account two days after disbursement.
