Clearco says it’s “rescaling” after a difficult few years that saw it downsize its operations and revamp its funding model for e-commerce clients.
“The name of the game since the recapitalization is, run the business lean, recognize that the market rewards disciplined operators, and that it’s the fastest path to profitability.”
Andrew Curtis
The Toronto-based FinTech company announced on Tuesday that it had secured $100 million USD ($138.7 million CAD) in asset-backed debt financing from Australian investment firm Macquarie Group, its first such financing in years, as it aims to provide capital to its approximately 400 e-commerce customers.
Founded in 2015 by Michele Romanow and Andrew D’Souza, Clearco provides capital to e-commerce merchants and direct-to-consumer brands, without equity dilution. Clearco initially provided funding and took a cut of revenue in return. Now, it takes fixed weekly payments from its customers based on projected sales.
“The beauty of that is it allows the customers to better anticipate their cash-flow needs,” CEO Andrew Curtis told BetaKit in an interview on Monday. He added that this model avoids customers having to give more to Clearco during busy weeks.
Clearco raised over $400 million CAD in equity financing over the years, and its valuation reached more than $2 billion USD in 2021. As macroeconomic conditions worsened in 2022, however, the company cut staff, pulled out of some overseas markets, and narrowed its product offering. In 2023, the company made leadership changes, more layoffs, underwent a recapitalization, and raised $60 million USD in equity after it was impacted by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
“Since then, we’ve just been rescaling the business and growing it,” Curtis said. “That growth means we deploy more capital to our customers, and this facility allows us to do that more cost-efficiently and with more flexibility.”
In December 2025, The Logic reported that Clearco was growing again, tripling its capital advances as entrepreneurs struggled to raise capital from banks and VCs. The Logic also reported its headcount was 110, a fifth of what it was in 2022. Curtis told BetaKit the updated headcount is now just under 100, which he attributed to “streamlining.”
“We try to run the business very lean, and we have since … 2022 and 2023,” Curtis said. However, he added that Clearco has made investments in its revenue and marketing teams. “When we can realize efficiencies otherwise, via AI, we do that as well.”
“The name of the game since the recapitalization is, run the business lean, recognize that the market rewards disciplined operators, and that it’s the fastest path to profitability,” Curtis said.
When it comes to reaching that milestone, the CEO said the new credit facility “makes a huge difference” because the cost of capital is “materially lower” than it was in 2023. Clearco expects to be at break-even by the fourth quarter of this year.
Feature image courtesy Clearco via LinkedIn.