I tried it out again with the information you provided, and I now see how it is tied to the theme quite well!
I do think the game needs to make it more clear that the point is short runs and that more tools are unlocked through more runs, since there isn't any real indication right now (or I'm missing it). Additionally you don't unlock anything until 5(?) failed runs, I can't imagine many players would stick around long enough to figure that out.
I think it works thematically for the jam, but as a game, it doesn't sit quite right with me. I tried 2 real runs, but hadn't unlocked anything so I ended up just spamming Finish - Reset until I had everything unlocked, then I tried another real run. Unfortunately even on that run, it ended up feeling like I had no real agency, I bought everything except the Rainbow, Golden Eggs, Nest, and Hunter. I skipped on those because I realized trying to get to those was going to take nearly as long as it took to get everything else, and since I had no way of gauging my chances of success I decided it wasn't worth it to try to get them.
I do like that you basically have to take out loans to buy the higher tier upgrades in any reasonable amount of time; however, I don't think the interest mechanic is clear enough. As far as I can tell, you would start your next run in the negative, buy you can just Finish - Reset to get rid of your debt, so it doesn't really matter.
Ultimately, I think you have an interesting premise and I can see the potential, but for me there just isn't enough sense of progress or agency to drive me to play. Off the top of my head, the easiest fix would be including multiple opponents; that way the player can start out finishing 10/10, but 9/10 on the next run, etc... That way there's some sort of progression for the player. Even more important, in my opinion would be including more player agency, likely in the form of allowing players to buy upgrades in whatever order they want and including more upgrades, that way their strategy can change in between runs. Maybe check out something like Idle Monster TD: Evolved for inspiration, I don't think it fits what you're doing 100%, but it does a good job of providing a lot of options that make it feel like the player's decisions matter.