Agent IQ

Agent IQ Partners with Narmi

Agent IQ Partners with Narmi
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Agent IQ, Alumni News, Daily news
  • Digital relationship banking innovator Agent IQ has teamed up with digital banking solutions provider Narmi.
  • The partnership will integrate Agent IQ’s Lynq banking platform with Narmi’s digital banking solutions to enable community banks and credit unions to offer enhanced, more personalized services.
  • Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Agent IQ most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.

A newly announced strategic partnership between digital relationship banking firm Agent IQ and digital banking solutions provider Narmi will help both community banks and credit unions enhance customer engagement across digital channels.

“By integrating our Lynq relationship banking platform with Narmi’s digital banking solutions, we’re equipping banks and credit unions with tools to offer a vastly improved customer experience while also empowering them to be more efficient,” Agent IQ Co-founder and CEO Slaven Bilac said.

Agent IQ specializes in digital relationship banking, providing personalization and customer engagement solutions that help banks and credit unions enhance customer relationships. The firm’s Lynq platform empowers financial institutions to provide proactive guidance and real-time insights to customers by combining human emotion and empathy with the efficiency of computer intelligence and AI. Narmi offers a digital banking platform designed to help community banks and credit unions provide their customers and members with the same kind of digital experience as their larger rivals. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York, Narmi boasts that its customers have seen account growth of as much as 3x in less than 30 days and deposit growth of 4x in as little as 90 days.

In a statement, the companies highlighted two major benefits of the partnership. These benefits include seamless digital banking functionality with AI personalization to provide customers with tailored support and consistent engagement, whether opening an account or using mobile banking. Another benefit of the partnership is the ability to enhance customer relationships by allowing customers to make digital transactions while accessing personal guidance from a dedicated banker — all without having to travel to a branch.

“Agent IQ is a perfect complement to Narmi’s digital banking and account opening products,” Narmi SVP of Operations Angela Gentry Yue said. “Together, we’re providing financial institutions with a comprehensive suite of tools that significantly enhance digital engagement and operational efficiency. This collaboration marks a major advancement in our mission to drive innovation in the banking industry.”

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Agent IQ made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2019. The company most recently appeared before Finovate audiences at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. At the conference, Agent IQ demoed its Lynq platform that enables customers to choose a personal banker to help them manage all their financial needs across any digital channel. Lynq leverages built-in augmented intelligence to enable personal bankers to better engage customers and build relationships in the digital space that are as personalized as relationships in a physical branch.

Agent IQ began the year announcing an extension of its integration partnership with fellow Finovate alum Q2. The extension empowers Q2’s sales organization to resell Agent IQ to Q2’s bank and credit union customers. Also in January, the company announced a collaboration with another fellow Finovate alum, ebankIT. Here, the partnership combines ebankIT’s self-service digital channels with Agent IQ’s personal digital engagement platform. “We wish to redefine the digital banking experience, make it more human, and set new benchmarks for customer engagement and satisfaction,” ebankIT CEO Renato Oliveira said when the collaboration was announced.

More recently, Agent IQ made fintech headlines via its work with community banks and credit unions. In July, Stanford Federal Credit Union won the Q2 Innovation Award for the launch of its digital communications channel powered by Agent IQ. The following month, Agent IQ announced a new partnership with the Bank of Utah. The independent community bank leveraged Agent IQ’s Lynq digital engagement platform to launch its new chat solution.

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Bankers Helping Bankers Fund Invests in Digital Customer Engagement Specialist Agent IQ

Bankers Helping Bankers Fund Invests in Digital Customer Engagement Specialist Agent IQ
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Agent IQ, Alumni News, Daily news, Funding
  • Agent IQ secured a strategic investment from the Bankers Helping Bankers Fund (BHB Fund).
  • The digital customer engagement innovator demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2022 in New York.
  • The BHB fund launched in 2022 to give community banks wider exposure to a range of innovative fintechs.

Terms were not disclosed. But the Bankers Helping Bankers Fund (BHB Fund) made a strategic investment in digital customer engagement solutions provider Agent IQ this week. The capital adds to the $18.5 million in equity funding Agent IQ has raised via previous seed and Series A rounds.

“This investment is representative of Agent IQ’s commitment to helping FI’s foster deep and meaningful customer relationships while also meeting the digital demands of today’s customers,” Agent IQ CEO and co-founder Slaven Bilac said in a statement.

Agent IQ offers an AI-enabled solution, Lynq, that improves communication between financial institutions and their customers. The platform enables customers to make basic queries, such as requesting a routing number, as well as more sophisticated requests, such as help in depositing a check. Lynq also allows customers to speak with a human agent at any point in time during the engagement. Via a “banker carousel” with brief bios and profile pictures, Lynq customers can choose and engage with a personal banker to quickly find the human assistance they need.

FIs using Agent IQ’s technology have reported a reduction in call center volume of 29%. Additionally, these customers also have noted that Lynq’s configurable, self-service technology is handling more than 80% of incoming conversations.

Left to right: Soren Bested (COO) and Matt Phipps (CMO) of Agent IQ at FinovateFall 2022.

“Our team looks forward to empowering more community banks with data-driven technology and the ability to allow relationship banking to thrive in the digital world,” Bilac added. “We are excited to be a part of the BHB Fund as the organization is helping more community banks overcome their shared challenges, operate more efficiently, and discover new sources of income.”

The BHB fund launched in 2022. Latitude38 Venture Partners manages the fund in partnership with IBAT Services, Inc. and banking market intelligence and advisory firm, FedFis. IBAT Services is a subsidiary of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT). The goal of the fund is two-fold. First, the fund seeks to give community banks exposure to a range of fintech investments capable of boosting growth, improving efficiencies, and enhancing competitiveness. Second, the fund offers the potential for outsized venture capital returns uncorrelated to traditional bank operations.

Latitude38 Venture Partners Managing Partner Richard Leggett praised Agent IQ as an ideal fit for the fund’s investment thesis. In a statement, Leggett noted that it was important for community banks to leverage technology to drive digital engagement. Agent IQ, which most recently demoed its platform at FinovateFall last year, offers technology that does just that.

Agent IQ’s funding news comes in the wake of a major new hire. In April, Agent IQ appointed fintech veteran Ruthann Paulin Glyman as EVP, Head of Partnerships and Strategic Alliances. Glyman brings with her more than 15 years of financial services industry experience to the job. Previous to her move to Agent IQ, Glyman was Director of Sales at Array, another Finovate alum.

Agent IQ is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company was founded in 2015.

Photo by Daria Obymaha

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BMO Teams Up with Agent IQ to Enhance Digital Customer Engagement

BMO Teams Up with Agent IQ to Enhance Digital Customer Engagement
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Agent IQ, Alumni News, Daily news
  • BMO has partnered with digital customer engagement solutions company Agent IQ.
  • The bank will deploy Agent IQ’s Lynq secure chat platform to enable customers to easily access both AI chatbots and human bankers.
  • Agent IQ most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall in New York last September.

BMO announced a partnership with digital customer engagement solutions provider Agent IQ this week. Courtesy of the collaboration, BMO will deploy Agent IQ’s secure chat platform Lynq, which enables customers to engage bankers in real-time, blending human-centered customer service with the efficiency of computer intelligence. The technology gives customers the ability to query a chatbot to answer basic account and banking-related questions, while maintaining the option to readily access a banker for a one-on-one conversation.

“With Agent IQ’s Lynq, BMO customers can engage a banker for all their financial needs across any digital channel, making digital banking easier and quicker than ever before,” Agent IQ co-founder and CEO Slaven Bilac said.

Lynq offers 24/7 chatbot support as well as direct video communication with a banker, including screen sharing. Answers to frequently asked questions are available instantly, and customers can connect to human bankers both during and outside of office hours. BMO Head of U.S. Digital Channels Brianna Elsass said that the partnership was an “example of BMO’s Digital First strategy” to provide future-ready solutions that deliver “loyalty, growth, and efficiency” for customers.

Left to right: Agent IQ COO Soren Bested and CMO Matt Phipps demoing Lynq at FinovateFall 2022.

With total assets of $1.14 trillion as of October 2022, BMO is the eighth largest bank by assets in North America. Operating via three primary groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management, and BMO Capital markets, the financial services provider offers a range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, and investment products and solutions to its 12 million customers.

Agent IQ made its Finovate debut in 2019 at FinovateSpring and most recently demoed its technology live at FinovateFall in New York last fall. At the conference, the San Francisco, California-based company demoed its Lynq platform, which leverages augmented intelligence to help bankers better connect with, engage, and support banking customers. “Put simply, Aqent IQ makes personal digital engagement simple,” company CMO Matt Phipps explained from the Finovate stage back in September. “We make it easy for you, and easy for your customers.”

Agent IQ has raised $18.5 million in funding from investors including Acronym Venture Capital and Mendon Venture Partners. The company was founded in 2015.

Photo by Anete Lusina

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Digital Engagement Solution Provider Agent IQ Secures $10 Million in Series A

Digital Engagement Solution Provider Agent IQ Secures $10 Million in Series A
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Agent IQ, Funding
  • Digital engagement solution provider Agent IQ has raised $10 million in Series A funding.
  • Agent IQ’s technology helps bankers develop more meaningful customer relationships by blending enabling technologies like AI with human talent, expertise, and empathy.
  • Agent IQ made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring and returned to the Finovate stage in September for FinovateFall.

In a round led by Mendon Venture Partners and featuring participation from Acronym VC, Sierra Ventures, and FNBO, digital engagement solution provider Agent IQ has raised $10 million in Series A funding. The investment, according to Crunchbase, takes the company’s total capital raised to $18.5 million.

Agent IQ CEO and co-founder Slaven Bilac said that the critical task of developing meaningful customer relationships can be lost in the drive toward the convenience and speed of digitalization. “Agent IQ exists to change this narrative,” Bilac said. He added that the company will “leverage this capital to lead community banking toward an environment where customers derive the same level of personal benefit through the digital channel as they traditionally did through the branch, while enabling banks and CUs to differentiate themselves with personal, seamless, and efficient service.”

Headquartered in San Francisco, California and founded in 2015, Agent IQ offers digital platforms that help their clients enhance customer relationships and customer satisfaction. Agent IQ’s solutions also help companies become more efficient, which leads to greater profitability and lower costs. With an approach that supports augmenting the human banker with technology rather than trying to replace human bankers with technology, Agent IQ effectively blends innovations like AI and machine learning with the critical customer engagement features of human empathy and creativity.

“The company is at the forefront of relationship banking,” Mendon Venture Partners Founding Partner John Clausen said, “helping banks engage customers in ways that they have come to demand.”

Agent IQ’s funding news comes just a few months after the company demoed its Lynq platform at FinovateFall in September. Lynq enables financial services consumer to choose and engage with a personal banker across all digital channels. The technology features configurable, built-in Augmented Intelligence that helps bankers better connect, engage, and support their customers. At the same time, the platform helps them become more efficient by automating typically mundane, manual tasks. Lynq offers video chat, AI-powered real-time insights, and messaging capabilities with the ability to translate real-time to more than 100 languages.

Agent IQ began the year with news that Texas-based Extracto Banks would deploy its Lynq digital assistant and chat service. This made Extracto Banks the first financial institution in Texas to partner with Agent IQ. The institution’s EVP and Chief of Strategic Design Chris Kincaid said that Agent IQ’s technology gave the bank “a transformational approach to meeting our customers where they are.”

Photo by Miguel Acosta

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FinovateFall 2022 Sneak Peek: Agent IQ

FinovateFall 2022 Sneak Peek: Agent IQ
By Madeline Clines Posted on
Categories: Agent IQ, FinovateFall 2022, FinovateFall 2022 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 12 and 13. Register today and save your spot.

Agent IQ’s Lynq personal engagement platform improves communication between financial institutions and their customers, leading to happier, more loyal, and more profitable relationships

Features

  • Allows customers to select a personal banker
  • Includes configurable, built-in AI that supports a company’s banker to be more efficient
  • Provides real-time insights into what customers are talking about

Why it’s great

Agent IQ helps its customers create relationships in the digital world that are just as personal as they are in the physical world, but even more enhanced.

Presenters

Matt Phipps, CMO
Phipps has over a 20 year career in global marketing and branding in which he led digital marketing across Asia Pacific out of Melbourne, Australia for a multi-billion dollar life sciences company.
LinkedIn

Soren Bested, COO
Bested’s industry tenure has spanned six countries across four continents and primarily been focused on FinTech services, biotechnology, healthcare and international strategic collaboration.
LinkedIn

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FinovateSpring Digital 2021 Sneak Peek: Agent IQ

FinovateSpring Digital 2021 Sneak Peek: Agent IQ
By oliver Posted on
Categories: Agent IQ, Finovate, FinovateSpring 2021, FinovateSpring 2021 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring Digital on May 10 through 13, 2021. Register today and save your spot.

Agent IQ‘s customer engagement platform provides a unique high-touch, high-tech, omni-channel experience that uses AI to support FIs in being more proactive with their customers and automating mundane tasks.

Features

  • Increase your customer satisfaction
  • Drive more loyalty and share of wallet
  • Support and automate repetitive and mundane tasks with industry leading AI

Why it’s great
The platform is supercharged with AI (augmented intelligence) that improves communication and engagement with your customers leading to happier, more loyal, and more profitable customers.

Presenters

Slaven Bilac, CEO
Co-Founder with a PhD in AI, Bilac was the Search Lead in the Google Japan Office. Later he led the Cloud Machine Intelligence Group tasked with making Google-internal ML technology available on GCP.
LinkedIn

Soren Bested, CRO
Prior to Agent IQ, Bested served as COO and Global Head of Product for Monitise and then was part of the formative team at Pivotus Ventures as COO and Chief Product Officer.
LinkedIn

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