Agent IQ’s mission is to redefine how organizations build profitable and lasting relationships in the digital era. With a secure messaging platform and AI-powered services, Agent IQ empowers financial institutions to offer their customers the convenience of digital service and support, without sacrificing the personal approach that makes them unique. Agent IQ serves clients across the US and Canada, ranging from small local credit unions to super-regional banks like BMO.
An early AI adopter, Agent IQ doesn’t aim to replace the bankers and branch staff who use their platform. Rather, it augments their abilities by using AI to handle basic support needs like providing routing numbers, as well as creating staff efficiencies that analyze conversation history, and provide valuable real-time insights into customer conversations.
Agent IQ’s partnership with Arc has grown as their business has gained momentum. After raising $10M in equity through a Series A funding round, Agent IQ started using Arc Treasury for capital management, then completed a $2M line of credit through Arc in 2024.
Today, Agent IQ is prepared to fuel long-term growth — through any financial scenario — by securing access to capital and ongoing financial management through Arc.
Agent IQ’s financially judicious leadership needed an equally rigorous financing partner
Agent IQ prioritizes not just short-term growth, but long-term financial resiliency. Soren Bested, Agent IQ's Chief Operating Officer, and his team take a financially conservative approach, carefully planning for many potential scenarios including economic disruption. Arc has proven to be the financing partner Agent IQ needed to put that philosophy into action, from fundraising to capital management.
Soren explains, “We think of loans as tools. VC funding is a good way to grow, but it's important to understand what it will cost you. We didn't want to leave money on the table, but we didn't want to raise too much either.”
In late 2022, Agent IQ raised a $10M Series A round and began to sign clients at scale. After the raise, Agent IQ started using an Arc Treasury Account and Money Market Funds for capital management, when they found they couldn’t get the level of service they wanted from commercial banks. In addition to offering the strong, responsive partnership Agent IQ wanted from its daily financial services provider, Arc’s Treasury management options generated yield that helped propel the business forward.
After a successful Series A and capital management strategy, Agent IQ set out to raise further capital and ensure their future
After completing their successful Series A round and solidifying their capital management strategy, Agent IQ’s next move was clear. In 2024, Agent IQ decided to seek additional capital with a line of credit through Arc Capital Markets. Another raise would give the company even more financial cushion, and the freedom to keep growing until an eventual Series B.
In this next stage of their partnership, Arc again set Agent IQ up for success. Arc not only connected Agent IQ with their network of trustworthy lenders, but ensured the company was presented in a way that would bring in the best possible offers.
Arc’s high-quality support allowed Agent IQ to take fundraising off their team’s plate, essentially outsourcing the line of credit raise to an experienced partner. Arc owned the fundraising process end-to-end with input from Soren and his team.
From preparing a data room to share with lenders, to vetting term sheets, to leading contract negotiation, Arc’s ongoing support helped Agent IQ settle on just the right offer — while saving hours of work and significant money in legal fees.
Soren notes, "Fundraising isn’t something you need all the time, so you don’t hire for it as a growth stage startup. Rather than having our CFO could do it off the side of his desk, we needed a trusted consultant to fill out the team. For 3+ years, over multiple rounds of fundraising, Arc filled that need.”
Agent IQ is equipped to respond quickly to industry and market changes
Arc introduced Agent IQ to 10 lenders, and together, they identified the two best offers. In July 2024, Agent IQ secured a $2M line of credit facility from SAS Capital. Now, Agent IQ is poised for sustainable growth, with access to a healthy amount of capital that can carry them through nearly any future scenario.
“How we'll deploy this funding depends on what the future hold,” Soren notes. “In the case of market turbulence, it acts as a safety net. In a positive scenario, it acts as growth capital.”
Agent IQ also set up DACA on their Arc account, making the loan management process even easier and more streamlined. Not to mention, they didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars on account fees. “At other banks, we were looking at $10-15k a year for Control Accounts,” says Soren. “I’d rather spend that on travel for my sales team, or even company events.”
The Agent IQ team
Moving forward, Agent IQ is excited to invest in the company’s growth by allocating some of the new capital towards sales and marketing. Because they have fast, flexible access to funds through their Arc Capital Markets line of credit raise, Agent IQ can pivot quickly as the economic environment develops, according to plans laid for different potential financial scenarios.
The future of startup finance, from cash on hand to raising capital
By investing in a long-term partnership with Arc, Agent IQ was able to access the capital they needed to grow — while generating return on idle cash and reducing the admin and cost burden of juggling multiple financial institutions.
Outsource your next debt raise with Arc Capital Markets.
Disclosure
The information and statements provided by Soren Bested were voluntarily shared with Arc for inclusion in this case study. Agent IQ is a client of Arc, including Arc Advisory LLC, but was not compensated for providing this testimonial. The outcomes mentioned are specific to their experience and may not reflect those of other clients. Performance references are not indicative of future results.