The Parker Story

It’s harder than ever to raise venture funding for DTC brands. Despite this, a new generation of brands is leading the industry forward under the banner of scrappy, profitable growth.

There are still financing options for these brands. Some of these options are mediocre, some do more harm than good, and none quite fit. We think a new chapter of e-Commerce deserves a new set of tools.

To fill this gap, we’re launching Parker: the first charge card built specifically for e-Commerce.

We set out to build the card that was missing from our own past careers in e-Commerce. As former e-Comm entrepreneurs, we stripped the idea of the card down to its core, and rebuilt it as a tool to operate your business.

We asked: What would a card look like if it were designed to power the costs of an online business, rather than just travel & meals?

This question led to Parker’s differentiated features:

• Limits based on business performance

• Rolling terms

• Emphasis on credit duration over rewards

• And lastly, software tools to help all business operators think like capital allocators, and invest in their best projects

• By the way, the card still works well for travel and dining :)

These features resonated with Parker’s core customer group — mid-market, internet-native brands and retailers with $5 — $200mm of annual revenue. Some of our customers are VC-backed and some are bootstrapped, but their common trait is a profitable, sustainable business model.

Our Traction

Before our public launch, Parker has already processed over $300mm in transaction volume.

We’ve grown to support hundreds of brands — including large, fast-growing businesses. The ten largest brands using Parker do well over $1bn in combined revenue each year. Our innovative approach to underwriting has led brands like Amour Vert, Italic, SpikeBall, Canopy, Caraway, Immi, and Obvi to flock to Parker. While we can serve any e-Commerce business, we’ve seen particular success across apparel, luxury goods, wellness, skincare, beauty, and food & beverage.

To understand why Parker represents an upgrade for these customers, let’s take stock of the other financing options out there.

The Other Options and Where they Fall Short

Broadly, Parker’s competitors fall into 3 categories: Traditional Cards, Startup Cards, and Merchant Cash Advances (MCAs).

Traditional Cards are issued by long-established lenders that provide cards to SMBs and corporates.

Startup Cards are a more recent group that formed to meet the needs of venture-backed start-ups and certain corporates. However, their underwriting and product roadmaps increasingly exclude bootstrapped and mid-market businesses, in favor of “whale customers.”

Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) lenders provide an “advance” on future revenue, which is repaid over time with a % of revenue called a holdback rate. Big MCAs often come at the expense of high fees and painful revenue holdback.

In sum, no one has cracked the perfect credit product for mid-market borrowers. They’re in a “messy middle” where they’ve grown to meaningful scale, but still lack good access to capital markets.

When a creditworthy company funds their ad spend with a pricey MCA, they know they’re using the wrong tool for the job.

We realized no one was offering both (i) fair terms and (ii) performance-based underwriting, and that our card could do both. Parker wants to work with great businesses that are overlooked by existing funding models. We believe this is a large and growing group. VCs are pulling back, banks and lenders are tightening up, and a charge card, used thoughtfully, has a bigger role to play than ever before. Over time we want Parker to grow into much more than a card — we want to become the financial backbone for the next generation of e-Commerce leaders.

Parker’s Fundraise and Future

To support our growth, today we’re announcing a total of $157mm in funding. This includes $31.1mm in Series A venture funding led by Valar Ventures, following $5.9mm in previously unannounced seed and pre-seed funding led by Valar Ventures and Y Combinator. Angel investors in Parker include Paul Graham (Y Combinator), Solomon Hykes (Docker) and Robert Leshner (Compound). Our fundraising also includes a combined $70M in debt, comprised of venture debt from Triple Point Capital and warehouse debt from Jefferies. The Jefferies warehouse debt facility includes an uncommitted option to upsize by $50M, for a combined total amount of $120M.

With today’s funding, we’ll double down on hiring across product, engineering, and growth.

We think e-Comm is entering a new chapter, one of thoughtful growth.

We want to be with our customers at every stage of that growth, from their first Black Friday, to their first storefront, to their first warehouse, and beyond.

If you’re interested in learning more, trying the product, or joining the team, reach out at support@getparker.com.