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.