Clearco Capital Comparison: When to Use Invoice Funding, Cash Advance, or Both

For fast-growing ecommerce brands, demand often accelerates faster than capital can keep up. Freight, inventory, and marketing all need to move now, while cash flow catches up later. That’s why brands need more than one funding tool. They need a capital stack built for growth. 

At Clearco, we built  two products  to match how DTC brands actually operate:

1. Invoice Funding: Built for operational moves like inventory and freight.
2. Cash Advance: Built for flexible growth plays like ads, expansion, or campaigns.

Use one. Use both. Stack smart. Demand never stalls, and neither should your capital. To help founders and operators understand how to use these tools effectively, this blog breaks down the role of each product and shows how to structure capital so it supports both day-to-day operations and long-term growth.

What Is Clearco’s Invoice Funding?

Clearco’s Invoice Funding is designed to help you pay supplier or vendor invoices before your sales fully materialize; bridging the gap between committing to inventory/manufacturing and collecting from customers. Instead of drawing down a large lump sum of cash into your bank, this product finances specific invoices so your working capital stays focused and lean.

Why It Works for DTC Brands

• Preserve cash for strategic priorities: Free up capital for time-sensitive Q4 decisions while Clearco covers Vendor payments.
• Stay lean: Your capital is directly tied to real costs, never sitting idle.
• Budget-friendly: Weekly caps help you plan and preserve spend for growth.

What This Means for You 

• Fund only what’s needed; keep the rest of your cash driving growth.
• Predictable payments mean fewer surprises when it’s time to scale.

When to Use Clearco’s Invoice Funding

• Frontloading inventory ahead of demand surges.
• Quickly launching new SKUs or seasonal bundles.
• Managing inventory cash cycles that hit before revenue.

Founder Fact: When premium pet‑brand DIGGS grew by nearly 500% year‑over‑year, Clearco’s Invoice Funding stepped in to unlock inventory capacity and protect cash flow.

‍“Clearco helped us at a critical moment. They allowed us to focus on our vision, not on financing headaches.” — Zel Crampton, Founder

If Clearco’s Invoice Funding keeps your operations running smoothly,  Cash Advance gives you the fuel to accelerate. Once your inventory engine is covered, the next question becomes: How do you scale demand? That’s where Clearco’s Cash Advance comes in. 

What is Clearco’s Cash Advance?

Clearco’s Cash Advance is flexible capital wired into your business bank account, ready for whatever drives growth — ad spend, market expansion, influencer tests, or unexpected wins. You decide the move; we fund the momentum.

Why It Works for DTC Brands 

• Full flexibility: You don’t have the constraint of tying the funds to a specific invoice: you can use it for anything that drives scale.
• Real-time optionality: If an influencer campaign, viral trend or new channel surfaces mid‑season, you’ve got capacity available.

What This Means for You 

• Deploy capital where it performs. Not where contracts force your hand.
• Your campaign calendar just got a growth engine. You call the plays.
• When timing is everything, we provide fast funding so you never miss momentum.

When to Use Clearco’s Cash Advance 

• Ramp up paid spend ahead of peak demand to maximize ROI while attention is high.
• Enter new markets or test channels without waiting on internal cash flow.
• Scale analytics, creatives, or ops teams to keep up with volume and not fall behind.
• Cover short-term capital gaps tied to growth moves, not just fulfillment.

How to Choose (or Combine) Clearco’s Funding Options

With both tools in your arsenal, the real question isn’t which product is better but which one fits your brand’s goals right now. This is where the structure of your capital matters just as much as the deployment method you choose.

To decide, ask two questions:

1. What are you financing? Operations vs. growth
2. How do you want to access capital? All at once or as-needed

Your Funding Deployment Options: Cash Advance vs. Invoice Funding

• Cash Advance: Fast access, paid directly to your bank account. Great for high-velocity growth levers like paid media.
• Invoice Funding: Clearco pays your vendors for you, ideal for inventory production or supplier payments.

These tools are designed to support the use case, whether it’s scaling ads, buying inventory, or launching a new SKU.

Your Capital Structure: Fixed Funding vs. Rolling Funding Capacity

• Fixed Funding: Best for one-time or seasonal needs. You get a set amount, pay a flat fee, and weekly payments are capped.
• Rolling Funding Capacity: Designed for recurring cycles. As you pay it down, your capacity refreshes, so you can draw again without reapplying.

Whether you're investing in growth or keeping operations smooth, Clearco’s capital model is built for how real businesses scale, not how banks lend. Use them separately or together. You stay in control.

Fixed Funding gives you what you need for a specific moment in time. Rolling Funding Capacity gives you what you need over time. And for brands that scale in cycles — spend, restock, reinvest — that difference matters.

What is Clearco’s Rolling Funding Capacity?

So what exactly is Rolling Funding Capacity, and how does it keep capital flowing as fast as your business moves?

• Your available capacity refreshes automatically as you make payments ;no need to reapply or draw one‑off tranches.
• When you reuse capital rather than sit on new draws, your effective cost of capital goes down and your agility goes up.
• Best for brands that expect ongoing cycles of ad spend, inventory turn, and reinvestment.

DYK: SIMO used Clearco’s Rolling Funding to keep capital flowing across inventory turns and holiday growth.

“Without Rolling Funding, we would have been more conservative, and for us that would have meant missing revenue opportunities.” — Nick Dupont, CFO

4 Key Decision Factors When Choosing Your Capital Stack

1. Purpose of Spend
   Is the funding for operations (like inventory or freight) or for growth (like ads or expansion)?
2. Timing vs. Revenue
   Are you spending ahead of sales (Invoice Funding) or using future revenue to drive current growth (Cash Advance)?
3. Flexibility Required
   Do you want capital tied to specific vendor payments, or the freedom to use it wherever opportunity strikes?
4. Cost vs. Upside Potential
   If the return on your spend is high, a flexible tool may make sense. If the goal is stability and supply chain execution, structure matters more.

Q4 rewards speed, precision, and bold execution. Without the right capital strategy, it can also create pressure, missed opportunities, and cash flow strain.

At Clearco, we do more than provide capital. We align it with how your business actually operates. Whether you use Invoice Funding, Cash Advance, or a combination of both, the goal is simple: give you clarity, control, and the flexibility to move when it matters most.