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Bloomist
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August 30, 2024
Clearco Helps Bloomist Secure Artisan Products Without Tying Up Cash Flow
Headquarters
Ontario, Canada
Industry
Beauty
When Dew of the Gods, a popular vegan skincare brand, needed to bridge the gap between their first large PO and starting production on an even bigger second one, they went to Clearco and unknowingly changed the trajectory of their business forever.
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— Ryan Dubs,
Founder of Dew of the Gods
The Challenge
“With really long payment terms, we needed to bridge the gap between getting paid for our first large purchase order and starting production on an even bigger second one,” explains Ryan Dubs, Founder of Dew of the Gods.
Dew of the Gods experienced rapid growth shortly after launching, which brought some of the biggest global buyers of beauty products knocking on their door. To pay for their first large PO for 75,000 units of their iconic Frozé Body Scrub, Ryan and his team had to bootstrap using credit cards and self-financing.
But what they didn’t expect, in addition to the beauty industry’s notoriously long payment terms, was another huge PO coming their way—this time for double the number of units.
The Solution
When the banking industry refused to provide financing based on Dew of the Gods’ minimal financial history at the time, they turned to Clearco.
“Clearco’s quickly executed financing allowed us to pay our suppliers, proceed with production, and bridge the gap between shipping the PO and getting paid,” says Ryan. “We proudly paid Clearco back a month early and the rest was history.”
The Results
Today, Dew of the Gods does multi-million dollars in self-funded purchase orders and production runs every year. But it took years of revenue history, even after their collaboration with Clearco, to finally get their bank to acknowledge the uniqueness and viability of their business model.
“There were times where we had millions of dollars in purchase orders, from Triple AAA beauty retailers, but the banks refused to consider those orders until they were paid in full,” Ryan explains.
He advises other founders to use banks to ask for credit when you don’t need it and prove your worthiness over the long run. In the meantime, build your business case and reach out to Clearco to see how they can bridge the gap when nobody else believes in you.
“Without Clearco taking a chance on Dew of the Gods, who knows where we’d be?” says Ryan. “Sometimes all a business needs is one financier to listen, understand, and take a chance to change their trajectory forever.”
