CASE STUDY: FINTECH
Clearbanc
We helped ClearBanc create a bias-free alternative to Venture Capital with the creation and launch of the '20-minute term sheet’ that’s on track to deliver $1B+ in funding into 2,000+ brands.
The Story
How VSC and Clearbanc picked a friendly fight with Silicon Valley’s poster children: the Venture Capital firms
Clearbanc provides an alternative to venture capital for founders who are trying to grow their business without diluting their equity. This is about bypassing the ‘haves’ and providing the ‘have-nots’ with the financial support they need and deserve to grow their online brands.
Strategy and Tactics
We launched the “20 Minute Term Sheet”: the first and fastest way to get growth capital to expand without losing board seats or controlling interest. The Term Sheet was designed to use a data-driven approach to determine the health of the brand.
While venture capital runs rampant with bias, primarily funding white men, Clearbanc's model has eliminated bias from the decision-making process by automating it and funding 8x more women-led companies than any other VC.
Clearbanc’s AI-powered due diligence process could actually be conducted in a mere 2 minutes, but we recommended a 20-minute timeframe to make the process feel more diligent and ramp up the dramatic tension, but also as a play on the popular “20 Minute VC” podcast run by the notable Harry Stebbings. In fact, our announcement got Harry’s attention, and Clearbanc’s founder Michele Romanow taped a podcast that went live within the first month of launch.
The Results
As soon as the website went live, the campaign went viral. Within 24 hours of our campaign launch, Clearbanc received millions of dollars in founder applications and 22 qualified deals in the pipeline. Since launch, Clearbanc has received over 600 applications and raised another $50 million equity investment and another $250 million for its third fund to scale their model.
9
Feature Stories
4
Podcasts
10x
Competitor's Coverage
600+
Applicants Within 24 Hours
Inc.
How This 'Dragons' Den' Star Wants to Help Fund Your E-Commerce Startup
-Guadalupe Gonzalez
Forbes
Clearbanc is Using AI to Level the Playing Field in Funding
-Sandra Ponce de Leon
TechCrunch
Using Clearbanc, a company could, in theory, raise a $5 million round from VCs to scale its business and another $5 million from Clearbanc for ad spend. This strategy saves said business valuable equity.