(Reuters) – Canadian startup Clearbanc, which provides upfront cash to e-commerce firms to expand the businesses, said on Tuesday it has raised $350 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Oak HC/FT, bringing its valuation to nearly $2 billion.
As part of the latest round, Clearbanc sold $100 million worth of new shares and raised the remaining amount as debt. The company, which has raised more than $170 million in equity funding to date, said it would rebrand itself as Clearco.
Founded in 2015, Clearbanc invests in online retail startups, though it does not acquire stake in any of these companies or hold any board seats.
Clearbanc offers a “pay as you grow” model that allows companies to raise funds from it – in exchange, the Canadian firm collects a fee, which is typically a percentage of the subscription revenue of those companies. Clearbanc has invested in more than 4,000 companies, according to its website.
The Toronto-based startup recently launched another funding service for software-as-a-service (Saas) firms.
“This kind of financing allows companies to raise more capital and still be private, where they can continue building their businesses,” Jacqueline Reses, executive chair at Square Financial Services and an investor in Clearbanc said.
Reses also sits on the board of Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd, which is the largest special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) having raised roughly $4 billion.
Last year, Clearbanc expanded into the UK and plans to use the new funding to fuel further buildout.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
