Lesson plan

Clearco

Clearco is a funding company led by Andrew Curtis that specializes in non-dilutive revenue-share agreements with start-ups. Clearbanc claims to make equity-free investments in businesses within 48 hours based on information provided on the two metrics ad spend and unit economics and calls this ‘The 20-Min Term Sheet’. Unlike venture capital firms that require stock, Clearco takes a fee on investments up to $10 million. Businesses apply online, and its payback fees range from 6–12.5%. It is a Canadian business founded by Michele Romanow and Andrew D'Souza in 2015, and headquartered in Toronto. It partly uses Artificial Intelligence to make decisions on potential investments. As of August 2019, it has invested in 791 businesses, has a stated monthly average revenue of $121 million and raised $1 billion. In 2021, Clearbanc rebranded itself Clearco to reflect the goal of long-term partnerships with clients based not only on financing. Between 2022 and 2023, the company experienced financial difficulties in a changing economic environment. Clearco laid off approximately 72% of their staff and saw the exit of its two co-founders Romanow and D'Souza.

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Article summary

Clearco is a funding company led by Andrew Curtis that specializes in non-dilutive revenue-share agreements with start-ups. Clearbanc claims to make equity-free investments in businesses within 48 hours based on information provided on the two metrics ad spend and unit economics and calls this ‘The 20-Min Term Sheet’. Unlike venture capital firms that require stock, Clearco takes a fee on investments up to $10 million. Businesses apply online, and its payback fees range from 6–12.5%. It is a Canadian business founded by Michele Romanow and Andrew D'Souza in 2015, and headquartered in Toronto. It partly uses Artificial Intelligence to make decisions on potential investments. As of August 2019, it has invested in 791 businesses, has a stated monthly average revenue of $121 million and raised $1 billion. In 2021, Clearbanc rebranded itself Clearco to reflect the goal of long-term partnerships with clients based not only on financing. Between 2022 and 2023, the company experienced financial difficulties in a changing economic environment. Clearco laid off approximately 72% of their staff and saw the exit of its two co-founders Romanow and D'Souza.

Key claims

  1. date of foundation: 2015 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of foundation is "2015". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1374589753

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.