Clerq is a New York-based fintech building an account-to-account (A2A) bank payments platform for high-ticket transactions. It lets merchants - starting with automotive and powersports dealerships - accept low-cost, guaranteed payments pulled directly from a customer's bank account, with card-like ease and no chargeback, fraud, or funding risk. Founded in 2022 by former Citadel and JP Morgan investors Truett Dwyer and Ben Markowitz, Clerq raised a $12M Series A led by 645 Ventures in October 2025, bringing total funding to roughly $21M.
TaoTao USA, Inc. is the United States distribution arm of Tao Motor, one of the world's largest makers of affordable powersports vehicles. From its Carrollton, Texas headquarters it supplies a coast-to-coast dealer network with ATVs, dirt bikes, scooters, go-karts, UTVs, golf carts, mini bikes and electric vehicles built by parent company Taotao Vehicles Company, Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer operating since 1985. The pitch is simple: get families onto trails, tracks and back yards on dependable machines that don't cost a fortune.