AIQ, Inc. (www.adviceiq.com) is the leading financial media provider of comprehensive, SaaS-based marketing data and tools for the $100B Financial Advisor (FA) marketplace.
With the financial advisory support of Scale Finance, AIQ has closed an institutional growth capital transaction through Fulton Bank, the lead banking subsidiary of Fulton Financial Corporation. To support a growing backlog within the FA industry and expand AIQ’s balance sheet, AIQ engaged Scale Finance LLC. Fulton Bank provided AIQ an innovative Letter of Credit facility with critically important flexibility and attractive terms.
Headquartered in Times Square, NYC and led by a veteran Wall Street team of experts in the retail FA marketplace, AIQ solves the three significant needs for their constituents: Institutions – how do we sell more products? FAs – how do we increase our asset base? and Investors – how do we find the right FA? AIQ’s proven database solutions address these needs, and current subscribers include 600+ institutional clients (e.g., Blackrock, Fidelity, MetLife, UBS, Nomura, American Funds), leading technology vendors, Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), Broker-Dealers (BDs) & content syndication partners (incl. Morningstar, Forbes, Business Insider, The Online Investor).
AIQ offers 2 primary products (Meridian-IQ, Advice-IQ) via annual subscription based, recurring revenue models:
Meridian-IQ (www.meridian-iq.com) is a publisher of retail FA data in 5 databases (RIA, RR, BD, Trust & Insurance) providing contact details, AUM, asset class investments, and other CRM tools, licensed by 600 major mutual funds, BDs and insurance companies for sales/marketing purposes. Partnered with S&P Capital Research, Meridian-IQ’s next generation sales/marketing workflow engine incorporates the most accurate FA database with deep data: AUM, contact, employment history, interests (even golf handicaps) from the directories formerly known as the “Blue Book” & “Red Book”, from 25 years of collecting and publishing data on RIAs & BDs, coupled with cutting edge time management and business planning software.
Advice-IQ launched in 2012 as the only independent, world-class editorial and media outlet with readership over 3 million and a fast growing institutional client base of over 25 BDs. As an online publisher of FA data, daily financial and editorial content, directories and rankings, Advice-IQ promotes FA profiles to millions of prospects. Advice-IQ content is syndicated by Morningstar, The Online Investor, The Street, Minyanville, Philly.com, The Motley Fool, Nat’l Real Estate Investor, Forbes and Business Insider, providing FAs key 3rd-party channels to showcase their expertise and reach investors. FAs listed in Advice-IQ are fully vetted and certified to have passed its proprietary Regulatory Compliance Review (RCR™), the industry’s strictest regulatory due diligence.
About Scale Finance – Scale Finance LLC (www.scalefinance.com) provides support in raising capital, executing M&A transactions, contract CFO services, and Controller solutions to entrepreneurial growth companies. The firm specializes in providing strategic advisory and management for companies raising growth capital and considering M&A/recapitalization opportunities, cost-effective financial reporting, budgeting & forecasting, implementing controls, complex modeling, and business valuations. Most of the firm’s clients are growing technology, healthcare, business services, consumer, and industrial companies at various stages of development from start-up and expansion to tens of millions in annual revenue. Scale Finance LLC has offices throughout the eastern seaboard including Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, Washington, D.C. and South Florida with a team of more than 50 professionals serving over 100 companies throughout the U.S.
