1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.390 Sean Murray: That company is called Clearco. Clearco is now 2 00:00:03.390 --> 00:00:06.510 on our top list of small business funders in the country. 3 00:00:07.170 --> 00:00:09.720 They actually are based out of Canada, but they expanded to the 4 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:12.960 US. And they have they have some operations in Europe as well. 5 00:00:13.020 --> 00:00:18.510 But Clearco now joins the likes of PayPal, cabbage or the old 6 00:00:18.510 --> 00:00:23.400 Kabbage, Square Capital, OnDeck which is now Enova, and Amazon 7 00:00:23.400 --> 00:00:26.430 and Funding Circle. So Clearco is now on that list and you're 8 00:00:26.430 --> 00:00:29.580 saying wait, who's clearcoat? Yeah, they're based in Canada. 9 00:00:29.610 --> 00:00:33.960 They're based in Canada. But one thing of note is that their co 10 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.410 founder and president is a woman named Michele Romanow. She's one 11 00:00:37.410 --> 00:00:41.790 of the richest people in all of Canada. And she's a judge on 12 00:00:41.790 --> 00:00:44.580 their version of Shark Tank in Canada called Dragon's Den. 13 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:46.170 Johny Fernandez: Dragon's Den I like that. 14 00:00:46.170 --> 00:00:49.350 Sean Murray: So Dragon's Den in Canada, one of the judges is is 15 00:00:49.350 --> 00:00:53.130 Michele Romanow. She is the co founder and president of 16 00:00:53.160 --> 00:00:57.030 Clearco. So she gets free publicity all the time. Not to 17 00:00:57.030 --> 00:01:00.030 mention she's already famous for being a very successful startup 18 00:01:00.180 --> 00:01:03.900 multimillionaire. I follow her personally on Instagram. She 19 00:01:03.900 --> 00:01:07.710 also does, she has a very glamorous like, like lifestyle 20 00:01:07.710 --> 00:01:11.160 and presence about her right. This is great marketing for 21 00:01:11.160 --> 00:01:17.460 Clearco and Clearco in 2020 funded $1 billion. This is not a 22 00:01:17.460 --> 00:01:20.700 small company. They're already on our list of the largest small 23 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:22.200 business funders ever. 24 00:01:22.650 --> 00:01:23.850 Johny Fernandez: 1 billion with a B. 25 00:01:23.880 --> 00:01:26.400 Sean Murray: 1 billion with a B in 2021 so far, they've already 26 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:29.160 done about half a billion. So it seems like they're on track to 27 00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:31.230 match or slightly beat what they did last year. 28 00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:35.640 Johny Fernandez: If we read we read it, right. They pretty much 29 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:41.190 in half of 2021. They've made equivalent to what they made in 30 00:01:41.190 --> 00:01:42.210 total of 2019. 31 00:01:42.810 --> 00:01:45.480 Sean Murray: Yeah, so you will you know what those COVID 32 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:48.030 happened in between. So yeah, I think what if you're looking 33 00:01:48.030 --> 00:01:50.460 Johny, these figures, you can look at them on the site, I'll 34 00:01:50.460 --> 00:01:53.610 put a link to this particular chart at the bottom of the video 35 00:01:53.610 --> 00:01:57.540 after we post it on online but Clearco they were doing only 36 00:01:57.570 --> 00:02:01.410 $170 million in funding in 2018. Basically, when they started, 37 00:02:01.650 --> 00:02:05.580 and now they're on track to do at least at least a billion for 38 00:02:05.580 --> 00:02:08.160 2021. It puts them on the list of the small, largest small 39 00:02:08.160 --> 00:02:11.310 business funders in the country. And the reason we're bringing it 40 00:02:11.310 --> 00:02:14.190 up, because it's not just the volume. It's not just Michele 41 00:02:14.190 --> 00:02:18.030 Romanow. They've also got a lot of other things behind them. In 42 00:02:18.030 --> 00:02:23.190 April this year, they raised $100 million. But it didn't stop 43 00:02:23.190 --> 00:02:26.820 there. Because in July of this year, they raised another $250 44 00:02:26.820 --> 00:02:33.480 million from SoftBank. So this company Clearco is on a 45 00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:37.380 trajectory to be one of the largest small business funders 46 00:02:37.620 --> 00:02:39.810 in the country beyond even our own rankings. They're going to 47 00:02:39.810 --> 00:02:42.660 be up there with you know, PayPal, and Amazon we've been 48 00:02:42.660 --> 00:02:45.960 talking about Square Capital and Shopify. And what's interesting 49 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.960 is that we just posted a link to a story we didn't write the 50 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:52.890 story, but it was a story about how AI small business lenders 51 00:02:52.920 --> 00:02:56.160 are, you know, are making all the rules now and humans aren't 52 00:02:56.160 --> 00:02:58.860 involved and I'm like, I've been reading this exact, you know, 53 00:02:58.860 --> 00:03:02.400 formula, the story of like the last seven years. Yeah. AI is 54 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:04.440 now doing all the underwriting. You know what I mean, it's an 55 00:03:04.440 --> 00:03:07.890 old story. But when you used to read that type of story like AI 56 00:03:07.890 --> 00:03:10.110 is doing the underwriting it used to be about OnDeck and 57 00:03:10.110 --> 00:03:14.700 Kabbage, and every every time you'd hear about tech and AI and 58 00:03:15.270 --> 00:03:17.730 machine learning and algorithms and all that stuff and small 59 00:03:17.730 --> 00:03:20.430 business and disruption it's always OnDeck and Kabbage. Yeah. 60 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:24.000 Now on deck out acquired by Enova and Kabbage got acquired 61 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.790 by Amex. Kabbage isn't even lending to small businesses 62 00:03:26.790 --> 00:03:30.600 anymore. So when I read this story, now, it comes out again, 63 00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:36.300 I think it was on Quartz QZ.com, right. And who am I reading 64 00:03:36.300 --> 00:03:41.670 about I'm reading about Shopify, Square and Clearco. So all of a 65 00:03:41.670 --> 00:03:44.460 sudden Clearco we're getting that recognition as one of the 66 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:47.910 top small business lenders tech small business lenders in the 67 00:03:47.910 --> 00:03:50.250 country. They also recently expanded to the Netherlands too 68 00:03:50.850 --> 00:03:53.310 Clearco is a company we're going to be talking probably a lot 69 00:03:53.310 --> 00:03:56.610 more about in the future. Their model was going after businesses 70 00:03:56.610 --> 00:04:00.360 that were looking to advertise on Facebook and saying we'll 71 00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:04.110 provide you the advert with the advertising money. If we know 72 00:04:04.110 --> 00:04:07.230 that you can get a return on your investment. Right? So like 73 00:04:07.230 --> 00:04:09.450 hey, you need 10 grand or 20 grand to advertise on Facebook. 74 00:04:09.480 --> 00:04:12.450 We're gonna make 40 grand, we'll give you that money. We know 75 00:04:12.450 --> 00:04:14.700 you're gonna make money. Yeah. Let's do this deal all day. 76 00:04:14.760 --> 00:04:16.800 Right? And they would actually do with it pretty affordable 77 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.520 terms too this isn't like a straight up expense. Some some 78 00:04:20.520 --> 00:04:22.140 of these products can be expensive. They're not as 79 00:04:22.140 --> 00:04:25.830 expensive as as the competition is. So I wanted to bring these 80 00:04:25.830 --> 00:04:28.500 small business finance origination figures list to 81 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:32.010 everyone's attention because Clearco is up there. They 82 00:04:32.010 --> 00:04:34.590 disclosed their figures. Supposedly they were already up 83 00:04:34.590 --> 00:04:37.500 on their site, but Quartz made a nice little chart, took the 84 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:41.190 numbers from the chart, plugged them into our chart and boom. 85 00:04:41.880 --> 00:04:45.690 Who's up at the top Clearco, co founder and president is Michele 86 00:04:45.690 --> 00:04:49.290 Romanow. A judge on Dragon's Den. I think they're a company 87 00:04:49.290 --> 00:04:50.070 to watch out for. 88 00:04:50.100 --> 00:04:50.640 Johny Fernandez: Yeah.