The account-to-account payments platform betting that the biggest opportunity in fintech is the oldest, most boring transaction - getting paid for the expensive stuff.
// Bank payments for high-ticket sales — card-like ease, wire-like certainty
Walk onto a car lot in America and you will find a paradox. The dealership can wire millions of dollars a day, run a national franchise, and move six-figure inventory - yet when it comes time to collect payment on a $60,000 truck, the choices narrow to two uncomfortable options. Take a card, and hand back roughly three percent in fees. Take a paper check, and wait to learn whether it clears. Clerq, a New York fintech founded in 2022, exists to offer a third door.
The company builds what the industry calls account-to-account, or A2A, payments: money pulled directly from a customer's bank account, across more than 5,000 connected banks, with the smoothness of a card swipe and the settled certainty of a wire. No app to download. Funds guaranteed to the merchant. Chargebacks, in Clerq's framing, simply do not happen.
"The real competition isn't another fintech. It's the paper check." — The thesis at the center of Clerq
That reframing is the whole strategy. Rather than fight the crowded consumer checkout dominated by card networks, Clerq went where the fees actually hurt - high-ticket transactions, where a single percentage point on a large invoice is real money. Its founders, both former finance operators, treat the problem the way a trading desk would: as an arbitrage on cost and risk that legacy payment methods leave on the table.
Card processing can cost roughly 3% on every sale. On a five-figure invoice that is hundreds of dollars per transaction. Clerq is positioned at about 75% cheaper.
A large card payment can be reversed weeks later. Clerq guarantees settled funds, so the merchant never eats a clawback, fraud loss, or funding gap.
Paper checks are slow and uncertain; wires are clunky. Clerq delivers a branded pay-by-link over SMS or email with 1-2 day settlement.
Accept payments pulled straight from a buyer's bank account, in-store or online, across 5,000+ banks - with funds guaranteed to the merchant.
Eliminates chargeback, fraud, and funding risk. A large payment can never be reversed against the seller once settled.
Real-time payment tracking, invoice management, reconciliation tools, and transparent fee reporting in one place.
Merchant-branded invoices delivered by SMS and email, so buyers pay from a link with nothing to install.
Developer tools and a sandbox for embedding Clerq into dealer management systems and commerce platforms.
SOC 2 Type II certified with banking services provided by an FDIC-member partner, First Internet Bank of Indiana.
Automotive dealerships - franchise and independent - are Clerq's beachhead, a vertical where high transaction values and heavy fees make the pitch obvious. From there the map extends into powersports, enterprise retail, and, more recently, luxury travel. Investors have cited a total addressable market measured in the trillions of dollars of annual high-ticket volume that still runs on checks, wires, and cash.
The company reports processing hundreds of millions of dollars in volume and 6x revenue growth over the trailing year. Tellingly, one of its investors - The Friedkin Group - is also one of its dealership customers, the kind of validation a pitch deck can't manufacture.
Franchise and independent dealers collecting large payments on vehicles and deposits.
Motorcycles, equipment, furniture, and enterprise retailers with big-ticket carts.
High-value bookings where card fees and payment risk are significant.
Most account-to-account and bank-payment tools - Plaid, Dwolla, Trustly, and the like - focus on connecting accounts or moving money. Card processors such as Stripe optimize the everyday checkout. Clerq's distinction is narrower and sharper: it pairs bank rails with a guarantee, and it aims that combination squarely at high-ticket sellers who feel both the fee bite and the fraud risk most acutely.
The guarantee is the quiet superpower. By absorbing the uncertainty - fraud, funding, reversal - Clerq lets a dealership treat a bank payment as final the moment it settles. In payments, whoever absorbs the risk tends to capture the margin, and Clerq chose to absorb it. The company also declines the usual framing of naming fintech rivals; its stated competitor is the status quo of paper and wire.
A percentage-based take rate on processed payment volume, priced well below card interchange. On large invoices, a modest rate produces meaningful revenue - and its backers note take rates are climbing, not shrinking.
A senior, finance-native team drawn from Citadel, JP Morgan, and Summit Partners - people fluent in moving large sums, priced risk, and the compliance rigor that high-value payments demand.
Former Portfolio Manager at Citadel and investor at Summit Partners. Studied Finance & Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Leads Clerq alongside his co-founder as Co-CEO.
Background at JP Morgan and Citadel. Studied Economics at Harvard University. Shares the chief executive role, a bet that in a trust- and capital-heavy business, two aligned operators beat one.
"From Citadel trading desks to dealership back offices - the founders left elite finance seats to modernize the least glamorous corner of payments." — On Clerq's origin
Led by 645 Ventures, bringing total funding to roughly $21M. The round funds Clerq's expansion across high-ticket verticals.
The Series A pulled in strategic money that doubles as distribution. The Friedkin Group, which operates automotive companies, invested and uses the product. Yossi Levi - the automotive media personality behind "Car Dealership Guy" - joined as a strategic backer with reach into the dealer community.
Earlier rounds, part of the ~$21M total, drew from Fika Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Commerce Ventures, and Dash Fund. The company reports 6x revenue growth over the trailing year alongside the raise.
Truett Dwyer and Ben Markowitz launch the company to modernize high-ticket payments.
Clerq builds its account-to-account platform and focuses on automotive dealerships as its first market.
The platform scales payment volume and earns SOC 2 Type II certification with an FDIC banking partner.
A ~$21M-total raise with strategic backing from The Friedkin Group and Car Dealership Guy, amid 6x revenue growth.
Clerq is a fintech platform that lets merchants accept low-cost, guaranteed payments directly from a customer's bank account - with the ease of a card and the certainty of a wire - built for high-ticket transactions like car and powersports sales.
Clerq was founded in 2022 by Truett Dwyer and Ben Markowitz, who serve as Co-Founders and Co-CEOs and previously worked in finance at firms including Citadel and JP Morgan.
Clerq raised a $12M Series A led by 645 Ventures in October 2025, bringing total funding to roughly $21M, with participation from FirstMark Capital, Fika Ventures, The Friedkin Group, and others.
Clerq primarily serves automotive dealerships, plus powersports dealers, enterprise retailers, and travel platforms - merchants selling high-ticket items where card fees and payment risk are significant.
Clerq charges a percentage-based fee on the payment volume it processes, priced well below card interchange - roughly 75% cheaper than card processing - while guaranteeing settled funds to the merchant.
Note: No official Clerq accounts were found on X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or GitHub at the time of writing; those buttons open the respective platform. Figures such as "~$21M total" and "~75% cheaper than cards" reflect the company's public statements and press coverage and are approximate. Compiled from public sources; details may change.