SoftBank leads $215m round in ecommerce investor Clearco

The latest fundraise comes just over three months after Clearco closed its $100m Series C funding round.

Ecommerce is still booming and VCs seem to agree. 

SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 has led a $215m funding round in ecommerce investor Clearco (formerly Clearbanc), with other investors Intuit, Bow, Capital and Park West also participating.

The fresh funding will be used to help propel Clearco’s growth plans and expand its current product offering.

“Softbank’s investment during a moment where we are accelerating at breakneck speed and leading a founder’s revolution is both humbling and exciting as we continue to work towards removing archaic barriers and offer an alternative and accessible solution for founders all around the world,” said President and co-founder of Clearco, Michele Romanow. 

“We continue to be wholly committed to our vision of changing the trajectory of what it means to attain capital to grow your business and the full-service tools to be successful, whether that be strategic guidance, access to a powerful network of partners or valuation tools that allow founders to accelerate the growth of their business.” 

Clearco’s latest funding round comes just over three months after the alternative lender closed its $100m Series C as well as a $250m debt facility from Credigy (a subsidiary of the National Bank of Canada).

"We’re a company that was built by founders for founders, and we’ve all faced the same issues we are working to not only solve but replace with better products and opportunities through an entire new category," CEO and co-founder, Andrew D’Souza, added. 

"We've invested over US$2.4 billion 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."

According to Clearco, in 2020 alone it funded eight times as many companies headed by female founders as the industry average, with 13 per cent of its funding also going to companies founded by Black and LatinX founders, compared to just 2.6 per cent from traditional VCs.

To help it fuel its growth, Clearco has also made a number of new executive appointments. 

The lender appointed Ruma Bose as its chief growth officer, Sarah Clark as its first head of UK and incoming CTO Stawick Sheshasai and VP of product Katrina Shackelford, who joins from Amazon, will be joining Clearco later this month.