Clearbanc rebrands to Clearco and raises $100m Series C round
Ecommerce investor Clearbanc has today announced a rebrand and $100m in new equity funding, bringing the company’s valuation to almost $2bn.
The alternative capital platform, founded by Canadian Dragons Den star Michele Romanow, will rebrand to Clearco.
“The move from Clearbanc to Clearco really signals our move beyond capital,” Romanow said. “Our goal is to change the face of fundraising, and we’re really proud to be showing it can be done”.
The platform said that as global VC funding for female founders dropped 27 per cent last year, Clearco funded eight times as many companies with female heads. Additionally a third of Clearco funding went to founders of colour.
As such it has raised $100m of equity and $250m of debt in a Series C round which will be used to fuel its “ambitious” growth plans. The round was led by Oak HC/FT and co-founder and managing partner Annie Lamont will join the company’s board of directors.
Clearco has deployed $2bn to more than 4,500 founders and last autumn injected £500m into British startups via its AI platform. Users connect their revenue and marketing accounts with the platform’s APIs which shows founders their investment offers.
“We’ve proven that we can find and fund entrepreneurs using machine learning and AI in a much more egalitarian way, and we’re gratified that the investment community sees that,” co-founder and chief executive Andrew D’Souza said.