Cledara, a UK-founded software management platform, has secured $20M in a Series A funding round led by fintech specialists CommerzVentures with additional investment by Carbide Ventures and Massive. Existing investors, including Nauta Capital and Notion Capital, also participated.
The funding will help the company to accelerate its expansion in the US on the heels of explosive growth across the business. The US has become Cledara’s second-largest and fastest growing market with 35%+ MoM growth since they announced their US launch this past March.
Earlier this year, the German fintech investor CommerzVentures launched its third €300M fund to support early and growth-stage companies in the fintech and insurtech sectors.
Manage software subscriptions
Founded by Cristina Vila and Brad van Leeuwen in 2018, Cledara enables the company to take control of its growing software subscriptions.
“Cledara is a result of my life-long desire to start a company that focuses on helping people,” says Cristina Vila, founder, and CEO of Cledara. “By helping growing companies discover, buy and manage the software they use to be successful, we empower them to focus their valuable time on what ultimately matters most – their people and customers.”
The Denver-based company combines a payment platform with intuitive software management capabilities, allowing them to operate more effectively across teams, comply with regulations and ultimately focus on serving their customers.
830% growth
In the last 12 months, the total volume of software purchased through Cledara grew 830%, fueled by technology customers, including UK’s newest insurtech unicorn, Marshmallow, mapping technology startup what3words, and data streaming platform Conduktor.
Cledara issues credit and debit cards exclusively via the Mastercard network and is one of few fintechs able to serve customers in the United States, the UK, and 28 countries across Europe. Cledara was part of the Mastercard Start Path program in 2021 and was part of the 2020 FinTech50.
Paul Morgenthaler Managing Partner of CommerzVentures says, “Cristina, Brad, and the rest of the team at Cledara are freeing up growing businesses around the world to use the software that works best for them. Their product is perfectly timed, as recent market headwinds place greater attention on efficiencies, and their remarkable growth is a testament to the value they deliver. We’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Cledara as they continue to establish themselves as a global SaaS player.”
“We see tremendous potential in Cledara’s ability to organize vast amounts of data surrounding software payments, usage, and buyer preference which frankly we have not seen in any other player in the market. We are thrilled by our participation in their Series A and believe Cledara has cracked the code on a huge problem with significant potential in the US”, said Pankaj Tibrewal General Partner, Carbide Ventures.
With offices in Denver, London and Barcelona, Cledara is actively hiring for sales, marketing, operations, and tech roles in the US.
