Participated · Series A · Nov 2022

Agent IQ builds digital platforms that help financial institutions deepen customer relationships, improve customer satisfaction, and boost service efficiencies while reducing the cost of serving. The company emphasizes augmenting human bankers rather than replacing them, applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to scale empathetic, personalized engagement. Agent IQ positions its product to help community banks meet digital demands and foster relationship banking in a digital world. The firm says its technology enables data-driven relationship management and operational efficiency for banks. CEO and co-founder Slaven Bilac framed the company’s mission around empowering community banks with pragmatic AI-driven tools. The company announced a strategic investment from a community bank-focused fintech fund to support those goals. Agent IQ develops the Lynq™ digital engagement platform, an AI-augmented, scalable solution featuring messaging (with real-time translation into more than 100 languages), video chat, and AI-powered real-time insights. The platform targets banks and credit unions to help deepen customer relationships, improve satisfaction, boost service efficiencies, increase profitability, and reduce cost to serve. Slaven Bilac is CEO. The company is based in San Francisco, California. Agent IQ raised $10M in a Series A round led by Mendon Venture Partners, with participation from Acronym VC, Sierra Ventures and FNBO. It intends to use the proceeds to accelerate growth and expand operations. Agent IQ develops customer service bots that combine artificial intelligence and human agents to provide seamless handoffs and closed-loop learning. Its product suggests responses to agents and dynamically presents knowledge-base articles based on conversation context. The company emphasizes reducing repetitive work for reps and consolidating disparate content sources into a single workflow. Agent IQ traces its roots to a Nike marketing program and was founded by CEO Craig Davis. It currently employs 20 people and serves 14 Fortune 1000 customers, each reportedly paying at least $500,000 per year. The company plans to use new funding to expand its sales organization and build out customer success teams.

Participated · Series D · Apr 2019

Upstart operates an AI lending platform that enables banks and other lenders to offer credit through a white‑labeled “Powered by Upstart” application. The company says almost two‑thirds of its loans are approved instantly and are fully automated. Over the past five years Upstart has originated more than $3.3B in loans and reports loss rates less than half those of peer platforms for borrowers with similar FICO scores. Leadership includes co‑founders and CEOs Dave Girouard and Paul Gu. Upstart has launched partnerships with Customers Bank (and its BankMobile division) and signed Powered by Upstart agreements with First National Bank of Omaha, First Federal Bank of Kansas City and Accion Chicago. The company plans to use new funding to expand its AI platform to other types of credit, and will be offered as part of Progressive’s Advantage Products with loans available on progressive.com. Upstart is a nearly five-year-old online lender that applies modern data science and machine-learning models to assess borrower risk and price personal loans. Its average borrower is 28 and the typical loan is used to pay down credit card debt; borrowers pay about 12% APR on average versus roughly 22% on credit cards. The company has originated about $650 million in loans in its first two-and-a-half years and aims to originate about $1 billion this year. Upstart says it expects to turn profitable this year and currently has roughly 100 employees. It funds loans itself, works with institutions including Goldman Sachs, and allows individuals to fund about 10% of loans on its platform. The company is also launching a software-as-a-service licensing offering to sell its underwriting technology to banks, credit unions and retailers, charging a monthly fee plus a small per-loan fee, and plans securitizations to access broader credit-market funding. Upstart is a Palo Alto-based online lending platform that finances professional and academic talent. It uses a proprietary underwriting model that evaluates signals of potential, including schools attended, area of study, academic performance, and work history. The model is designed to identify high-quality borrowers despite limited credit and employment experience. Upstart offers three-year fixed interest loans whose proceeds can be used to start a business, pay for a coding bootcamp, eliminate student debt, or pay off credit cards. The company is led by founder and CEO Dave Girouard. It raised $35M in a Series C and will use the funds to continue expanding operations. Upstart is a lending platform based in Palo Alto that goes beyond the FICO score to finance people using signals of potential such as employment history and academic performance. Its core product is a proprietary underwriting model designed to identify high-quality borrowers despite limited credit and employment experience. Upstart-originated loans can be used for purposes including paying off credit cards, eliminating student debt, funding education such as coding bootcamps, or starting a business. The company reports that in the 11 months since inception it has originated more than 5,000 loans totaling $70 million, including over $14 million in March alone. Upstart positions itself to provide fairly priced loans to borrowers underserved by traditional lenders and says its mission is to bring financial fitness to all. Founder and CEO Dave Girouard said expanding the partnership with Victory Park Capital will provide capital and expertise to scale the platform. Upstart is a Palo Alto–based lending platform that evaluates borrowers using non‑FICO signals including schools attended, area of study, academic performance, and work history. Its proprietary underwriting model aims to identify high‑quality borrowers despite limited credit or employment history. Since inception earlier this year the platform has originated more than 500 loans totaling over $7.5 million and receives more than 1,000 loan applications daily. Upstart reports it has not yet experienced a delinquent payment. Loans can be used for purposes ranging from starting a business and paying for training to eliminating student debt or paying off credit cards. The company says it is committed to providing fairly priced loans and plans to expand its product into new markets to serve borrowers who lack conventional credit scores.