Clearco in the UK: closed since 2022, and what replaced it

What happened to Clearco in the UK

Clearco began as Clearbanc in Toronto in 2015, founded by Michele Romanow and Andrew D'Souza, and rebranded in 2021. Its UK vehicle, CFT Clear Finance Technology (UK) Limited (Companies House 13292660), was incorporated on 25 March 2021 under a credit-granting code, with Romanow and D'Souza as directors and Sarah Clark as UK head. In an interview published in January 2022, Clark said Clearco had funded close to 1,000 UK businesses with more than £120 million, offering advances from £10,000 to £10 million at a flat 6%. Clark resigned on 14 April 2022.

The retreat came in stages. Clearco cut a quarter of its staff in June and July 2022. Then, on 30 and 31 August 2022, it shut its Ireland, UK and Australia operations, around 60 people, and transferred its UK, Irish and Australian clients to Outfund under a referral agreement. TechCrunch reported the figure that explained the decision: only about $429 million of the $3.2 billion it had deployed, some 13%, had gone outside the US and Canada. A further 30% of the workforce went in January 2023 and Romanow stepped down as chief executive in favour of Andrew Curtis. The UK company was struck off on 7 November 2023, fourteen months after the exit. Companies House now returns several unrelated firms called Clearco (a cleaning company, an insurer, a car detailer) and nothing for Clearbanc.

A stale help-centre article still circulates that lists the UK, Ireland, Germany and others as eligible countries with a floor of “10k/month”. It also refers to products and virtual cards that pre-date the 2023 restructuring. It is superseded by the live site, and any comparison page quoting it is describing 2021.

Who Clearco funds in 2026, in its own words

The homepage sets out three conditions. “Clearco is built for brands that: Sell directly to consumers online (DTC); Have 6+ months of consistent revenue, generating more than $100,000 USD per month; Are incorporated in the U.S. and have an active U.S. business bank account.” An EIN, the US tax identifier, is required. A blog post from 23 September 2024, still live, closes the door on the rest of the world and leaves one window: “for now, we only fund businesses whose principal place of business and incorporation is within the U.S. However, if your business is an international company with a U.S.-based subsidiary that meets our requirements, we may still be able to provide funding.”

That window is narrower than it sounds. A UK brand with a Delaware subsidiary that itself banks in the US and itself turns over more than $100,000 a month could ask. A UK brand selling into the US through its UK company cannot. Clearco's own comparison page makes the revenue gate mechanical: select “$99K or less” and it replies, “You're not eligible at this time. We require businesses to have at least $100,000 USD in monthly revenue. Complete this form, and we will introduce you to the most appropriate partner in our space.” Whether Canadian companies are still funded is not stated on the site; the Globe and Mail in August 2026 referred to around 400 North American customers.

What Clearco offers in the US

For a UK reader this is context rather than a menu. Clearco relaunched its platform on 3 September 2025 and now lists four products. Fixed Funding Capacity is “a funding advance for major investments” with a “dedicated funding capacity that you can draw from during your 30-day approval window”; unused capacity “simply expires”. Rolling Funding Capacity, launched on 10 July 2025, is “ongoing access to funding that replenishes as you make payments”. Cash Advance is “funding deposited directly into your business bank account”. Invoice Funding lets a brand “submit supplier invoices, purchase orders, or vendor bills” for Clearco to pay, in AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP or USD, with a 0.5% commission on non-dollar payments.

The terms across the range: “funding up to $10 million” with “estimated terms ranging from four to 12 months”, repaid through “capped weekly payments based on a clear payment schedule”. Pricing is “fixed, transparent, and predictable, with rates based on your business performance”, and the published band is “Our typical fixed fees range from 3.5% to 12%”. Unlike Wayflyer and Uncapped, Clearco says the fee is “prorated based on how long your funding was outstanding” and that it “offers early payment options with prorated fees and no penalties”, with the qualifier “if you're eligible”. No minimum advance is stated; the $100,000-a-month bar is the effective floor.

On security, Clearco makes the strongest claim in the category: “Does Clearco require blanket liens or a personal guarantee? No... Clearco is the only capital partner that never takes collateral or an all-asset lien on your business.” It is “non-dilutive” throughout, with no equity or warrants. Speed claims: an application “typically reviewed in as little as 24 hours” and “most founders receive funding within 24 to 48 hours”. The terms of service are governed by Delaware law with mandatory arbitration, a 30-day opt-out and a class-action waiver, and allow Clearco to “refuse Services to any person at any time for any reason without notice”. Underwriting connects Shopify, Stripe, Amazon, BigCommerce, Square and PayPal.

The recapitalisation, the relaunch and the Macquarie facility

Clearco nearly did not survive 2023. In October that year it completed a recapitalisation: a $60 million Series D led by Inovia Capital and Founders Circle Capital, a $100 million asset-backed facility from Pollen Street Capital, and the purchase of a $60 million Silicon Valley Bank term loan that was largely converted to equity. BetaKit put the resulting valuation at around $200 million, against a peak above $2 billion. Andrew Curtis has been chief executive since January 2023; Karamdeep Nijjar of Inovia chairs the board, D'Souza remains a director and Romanow is an observer.

The 2025 relaunch followed: Rolling Funding in July, the rebuilt platform with Cash Advance and the early-payment option in September, and a press release later that month calling the result “the most flexible growth funding suite for ecommerce brands”. On 18 August 2026 Clearco announced a $100 million asset-backed financing facility from Macquarie Group, arranged by Macquarie's New York fixed income team, which it expects to support “approximately $900 million” of funding over two years. The Globe and Mail's report the same day described a company of under 100 employees with a loan-loss ratio under 1%, a cost of capital roughly half that of the previous facility, $7.5 million of promissory notes raised in 2026 and break-even expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. The site claims “Over $3.3B Invested Into 11,000+ Brands”, a figure that counts the whole history including the years it operated here.

None of that is a signal of a UK return. A $100 million facility supporting $900 million of US-dollar advances to US-incorporated brands at $100,000 a month is a business being rebuilt in its home market. We found nothing on the site or in the 2026 coverage that mentions the UK other than as a past market.

What the Trustpilot profile shows

Clearco's reviews live under the old name, at trustpilot.com/review/clearbanc.com; there is no clear.co profile. An archived copy from 1 November 2025 showed a TrustScore of 4.1 from 344 reviews. Finder's US review, updated in December 2025, quoted 3.9 from 345. A search snippet from 7 September 2026 describes a four-star rating from 361 reviews. So the honest summary is around four stars from roughly 360 reviews, and a count that grew by about 17 in ten months, which tells you how few new customers the business is writing relative to its 11,000-brand history. A share of those reviews will be from UK and Irish customers of the 2021 to 2022 period and describe a product and a team that no longer exist.

What UK brands looking for Clearco use now

The shape people wanted from Clearco was specific: an advance sized from online sales data, a flat fee in single digits, repayments tied to revenue, no personal guarantee. In 2026 that shape is offered in the UK by a short list, and each member of it has its own catch.

Outfund is the successor by transfer: Clearco's UK, Irish and Australian clients were referred to it in August 2022. It still offers a revenue-share repayment alongside fixed-term loans, from £10,000 to £500,000 over 3 to 12 months, with a published example of 6.8% on £150,000 over nine months, six months of trading and £10,000 a month as the floor, and “no mandatory personal guarantees”. It changed owners in August 2025 and most of its criteria moved in the past year; our review sets out what to ask for in writing.

Uncapped was Clearco's closest UK rival in 2021 and 2022, and has since stopped writing revenue-based finance altogether. What it offers now is a fixed-term loan at 0.7% to 1.5% a month and a line of credit, for limited companies with £100,000-plus a month, no personal guarantee, and a fee that is not rebated on early settlement. It is the right name for a larger brand that wants a fixed schedule, and the wrong one for anyone under £100,000 a month who is not an Amazon seller.

Wayflyer is the lender that looks most like the old Clearco: a cash advance or term loan from £5,000 or £10,000 to £20 million, a fixed fee “typically between 5% and 10%”, no interest, no personal guarantee, six months of trading and £10,000 a month. The contracting party is an Irish company, fixed-repayment advances are always stacked if you take a second one, and it is not on our panel, so we cannot place a client with it.

YouLend is the answer for a different business: one that takes cards or sells through a platform such as Amazon, eBay or Shopify, where the advance is sized from those takings and repaid as a share of them. It is the largest name in the UK card-advance market and the one a Clearco searcher who runs a shop rather than a warehouse is more likely to fit. Our merchant cash advance hub covers it and its rivals.