Winning formula: why Germany and Clearco are the perfect match

A hearty willkommen to all! 

As a startup ecosystem builder and veteran, I’m particularly excited about bringing Clearco, the world’s largest e-commerce funder, to Germany, one of the world’s largest e-commerce economies.

Clearco provides equity-free capital to businesses, direct-to-consumer brands, and small- to medium-sized enterprises through revenue-based finance solutions. We’ve already funded businesses in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. 

That’s why I’m thrilled Clearco is expanding to Germany and has committed €500 million to grow German companies. E-commerce in Germany has seen astonishing growth over the last few years, and is expected to reach US$141bn by the end of 2022. Germany is also a beautiful melting pot of cultures, ideas, and disciplinaries. This is what makes it such an innovative and creative place. 

Innovative and progressive.

Clearco’s mission is to democratise access to capital. We do this via our proprietary data-driven algorithm that funds purely based on business performance. In other words, we take the bias out of funding.

In Europe, female-founded startups account for just 1.3% of venture-capital funding raised since 2017. We know Germany is actively working towards closing the gender funding gap, and we’re thrilled to be part of this story.

To date, Clearco has deployed US$3.2bn in fair and fast capital to more than 7,000 companies. We’ve funded 25-times more female-founded ventures than traditional VC, and 30% of our founders are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or people of colour).

So it’s no coincidence that we’ve brought Mariam Koorang on board as General Manager of Germany. Mariam is a multi-time founder whose career has transcended food-and-beverage, e-commerce, and B2B marketplaces. In addition to this, Mariam is also a mentor at the European Innovation Council Women Leadership Programme.

And the most beautiful part: Mariam herself could have been one of Clearco’s customers. At Clearco, we recruit leaders for their connection to, and understanding of, the founders we fund. Mariam knows first-hand the challenges founders run into, and what they need to be successful. From growing the business, to building the right product, to ensuring that your customers are happy. We’re thrilled to have her build our Germany ecosystem with deep industry expertise, empathy, and compassion.

Willkommen to Clearco.

We’re at an inflection point. Bias-free capital is trending as a better, more affordable, and hassle-free option to traditional forms of funding. All you need is an idea, which we know is plentiful in Germany.

I'd encourage e-commerce founders to engage with us – there’s just too much to do when you’re building a business. Let Clearco help you with fast, straightforward capital so you can focus on what matters – building your business, your way without losing any control. 

Our product is truly built by founders, for founders. No personal guarantee, no fixed repayment dates. I look forward to welcoming many founders and entrepreneurs to Clearco’s ever-expanding ecosystem in the coming months and years. I look forward to helping futurepreneurs actualise their visions and dreams.

What German-based founders say about partnering with Clearco

“With Clearco as a reliable and flexible financing partner, we can pre-finance our inventory in line with our growing demand. Clearco funding has allowed us to accelerate our growth, but without giving up equity to external investors.” Marlena Hien and Laurence Saunier, Co-CEOs and Co-Founders, Bears With Benefits (Read the case study here)

“Clearco capital helped us develop proprietary technology to expand into new sales channels, like conversational commerce and personal shopping. We like to be fast and be ahead of the market. Clearco provided us with the opportunity to push our global expansion and develop unique service offerings when there was a clear need in the market." Christoph Lukaseder, Managing Director, NICKIS (Read the case study here)

“I’m so happy about the simplicity of the funding process with Clearco. From the first meeting, I was made to feel very comfortable with Clearco. They have great people, who you can trust, which makes the whole process very enjoyable. Clearco is for founders, by founders. It makes sense and I am very confident in the model. If I didn’t have Clearco funding I would have been out of stock in three months. Clearco is a great finance model for growing DTC brands.” Enis Ayari, Founder, Bumpli (Read the case study here)

“The simplicity and reliability of Clearco funding made it easy for us to thrive and grow our business. Since working with Clearco we have doubled our income. That has enabled us to grow our revenue by 29% for 2021. Also, our website’s number of visitors has increased nearly two-fold since working with Clearco. We recorded an astounding 42% increase in shop visitors.” Lutz Gaissmaier, CEO, Studibuch (Read the case study here)

“Without Clearco, we would not have been able to keep our growth above 1,000%, year on year. We needed funding easily and fast, without a long approval process. We did not need to convince an investor or bank that our business model has a bright future but could just show it by connecting our accounts. We were all surprised how much funding was possible. The ability to increase funding depending on our growth – even before everything is paid back – makes it a perfect match for our subscription business. We really love working with Clearco. The Clearco team is so supportive – it still feels like going for a beer with a friend, talking about business.” Sebastian Reichelt, CEO and Co-Founder, Strollme (Read the case study here)