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AIQ Receives Investment

2013-09-23
NEW YORK, NY, AIQ, Inc. today announced that Stonehenge Growth Equity Innovate NY Fund, L.P. has made an investment in the company.
AIQ, Inc. today announced that Stonehenge Growth Equity Innovate NY Fund, L.P. has made an investment in the Company. AIQ will use the capital to further accelerate the growth of AdviceIQ, its consumer-facing online directory of trusted financial advisors and publisher of syndicated personal finance content and advisor rankings.

'We are thrilled to have the Stonehenge team, with their capital backing from New York State and Goldman Sachs, as financing partners and to be recognized as one of New York's emergent businesses. This investment underscores the strength of the AdviceIQ model and the significant opportunity we see to help financial advisors better market to and engage individual investors and financial institutions,' stated Nicholas W. Stuller, Co-founder & CEO of AIQ, Inc.

'We are very excited about the prospects for this latest investment,' said Brian Model, Managing Partner of Stonehenge Growth Equity Partners. 'With their nearly 600 mutual fund, broker-dealer and other institutional clients, AIQ management has built on their strong track record to once again lead the retail advisor data and content space. We share in the company's vision that much could be improved at the intersection of Wall Street and Main Street, and look forward to this partnership as the AIQ team builds a large, profitable and important company.'

AIQ launched AdviceIQ in 2012 to provide content and digital marketing tools that enhance the branding and business development initiatives of financial advisors. As part of the offering, AdviceIQ content is syndicated by Morningstar, The Online Investor, Minyanville, Philly.com, The Motley Fool, National Real Estate Investor, Forbes and Business Insider giving advisors important third party channels by which to showcase their expertise and reach investors. To drive investor engagement, all advisors on the AdviceIQ platform are certified to have passed its proprietary, subscription-based Regulatory Compliance Review (RCR TM), the strictest industry regulatory due diligence and are proven to be in good professional standing. Currently there are more than 2,500 advisors on AdviceIQ and clients include American Portfolios Financial Services, Money Concepts Capital Corp., Securities Service Network, Evensky & Katz, Xpyria Investment Advisors and Financial Security Advisory, Inc

This latest investment by Stonehenge Growth Equity Innovate NY Fund, L.P. was a follow-on to AIQ's Series A equity financing. Prior investors include Penton Media (publisher of WealthManagement.com, Trusts & Estates, and other leading business websites), and a group of individual investors who themselves founded, built and sold data and content firms similar to AIQ.

About Stonehenge Growth Equity Innovate NY Fund, L.P.

Stonehenge Growth Equity Innovate NY Fund, LP is managed by Stonehenge Growth Equity Partners, one of seven investment entities participating in the Innovate NY Fund. The Innovate NY Fund, launched by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to spur innovation, job creation and entrepreneurship across New York State, is a $45 million joint venture seed stage equity fund supported by $35 million from the State and a $10 million investment from Goldman Sachs. Seven leading investment entities, each with a regional and/or industry focus, are participating and investing the funds across New York State. Innovate NY is expected to leverage up to $450 million in additional private investment for New York's small businesses and will invest in up over 100 new companies. Stonehenge Growth Equity Partners invests in technology-enabled companies applying proven technology to solve business problems. For more information, visit www.StonehengeGrowthEquity.com.

About AIQ, Inc.

AIQ, Inc. publishes the popular Meridian-IQ suite of Financial Advisor directories, licensed by nearly 600 major fund companies, broker-dealers and insurance companies for industry research and marketing purposes. AIQ is led by a veteran Wall Street team who are subject matter experts on retail financial advisors and investing. The company's consumer-facing product, www.AdviceIQ.com, combines daily personal financial journalism with listings and rankings of pre-vetted Advisors that are certified to have passed AdviceIQ's proprietary Regulatory Compliance Review (RCR TM), the strictest industry regulatory due diligence.
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