Clearco Macquarie Deal: $100M Facility Powers a Comeback Three Years in the Making

Clearco announced Tuesday a $100 million asset-backed financing facility from Macquarie Group, which is expected to support roughly $900 million in funding to e-commerce brands over the next two years, with per-brand checks now reaching $10 million on four-to-twelve-month terms.

The mechanics, per the release: Macquarie's New York-based Fixed Income and Currencies team, part of its Commodities and Global Markets business, provided the $100 million asset-backed facility, which expands Clearco's ability to fund brands across DTC, wholesale, retail, marketplaces, and social commerce. Funds can be used for inventory, marketing, and major purchase orders, with qualified brands able to access up to $10 million, no personal guarantees, and no all-asset liens.

CEO Andrew Curtis says the cost of capital is 50% below 2023 levels and break-even arrives by Q4. Curtis said the facility lets Clearco "grow alongside ambitious operators as their businesses become more complex." Macquarie's Eli Nafisi, a senior managing director in the CGM business, credited Clearco's "deep ecommerce specialization with the disciplined underwriting required."

The road back

To appreciate this deal, you need the road that led here. Founded in 2015 by Michele Romanow and Andrew D'Souza, Clearco raised over $400 million CAD in equity, helped grow revenue-based funding for online brands, and touched a valuation north of $2 billion in 2021. Then came the unwind: staff cuts and market exits in 2022 as rates rose, then a brutal 2023, leadership changes, more layoffs, a complex recapitalization, a $60 million equity raise from existing investors, and collateral damage from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Headcount fell to roughly a fifth of its 2022 peak.

What followed is the part this industry should study. Per reports, Clearco tripled its capital advances through 2025 as founders struggled to raise from banks and VCs. The company now serves roughly 400 e-commerce customers with a team of just under 100. "The name of the game since the recapitalization is, run the business lean," Curtis told BetaKit, adding that "the market rewards disciplined operators." The proof point: this facility prices Clearco's capital 50% cheaper than in 2023, and the company projects break-even by the fourth quarter.

Two industry notes inside this deal

First, the product evolution. Clearco built its name on revenue-based financing: take funding, remit a cut of sales. The company now uses fixed weekly payments based on projected sales, because it "allows the customers to better anticipate their cash-flow needs" and avoids customers paying more in their busiest weeks. Readers will recognize that as the same fixed-remittance-versus-true-up debate the MCA world has navigated for years, and it's notable that a company with Clearco's data depth landed on predictability as the customer-friendly answer.

Second, the vertical is suddenly crowded with capital. Two weeks ago we covered Wayflyer's $1.5 billion forward flow with Fortress; now Clearco, the lone Canadian on the CNBC-Statista alternative financing list we broke down, has Macquarie behind it. Two major e-commerce funders, two global allocators, one month. The e-commerce funding wars have their capital lines drawn, and Macquarie joins Fortress, Oaktree, and the month's other allocators in the roll call of institutional names now writing size in this industry's paper.

The comeback isn't complete; break-even is a projection, not a milestone yet, but a $100 million commitment from Macquarie is the market saying the rebuild is real. We'll check back in Q4.