Hello,
We are in the process of obtaining funding for a start-up venture and was referred to this company by an Angel Investor. The name of the company is First Capital and they are offering us a LOC of $2M. We are a newly established company (less than a year old) and no revenue as of yet to aid in the acquisition of funding. It has been quite a challenge finding an investor the past several months for the amount we need to purchase our licensing and working capital which is a minimum of $250K. Considering the obstacles weāve encountered thus far, this offer almost seems to good to be true, and we all know how the saying goesā¦ but, I figured I would put it out there to see if there were some legitimacy to it.
This company stated they are able to get of a line of credit so long as we had no present liens, judgements, or UCC1 Filings on the EIN provided. The first paragraph of the engagement refers to their company as: INTELLEGENTAI.LLC, The parent company of First Capital, is a professional Business Credit Tradelines Loan Preparation firm & Consulting Services.
The engagement agreement states that they will provide a business line of credit for $2,000,000.00 with no payments for the initial 36 months of the loan when the loan is disbursed. There is a āClient Guaranteeā under their āDiamond VIPā package that guarantees a minimum business line of credit of $2.000,000.00 dollars net at prime plus 1 or 6% interest with a 36 month deferral period with a term of 10 years interest only and a balloon payment paid at the end of the 10 year term, unless otherwise client decides to prepay the balance in full earlier, there is a (1%) percent prepayment penalty if the loan is paid in full within the first 36 months. It states that if we are not funded in a timely fashion, we are to receive a full refund no later than 15 business days unless a material misrepresentation was purposefully omitted.
What makes me nervous here is the initial retainer fee of $7,500.00. They indicate this fee is for the preparation of the engagement agreement and is included for any and all third-party fees and expenses which shall be recovered in success fees upon financing.
There is also a one-time success fee equal to the amount of (1%) one percent upon closing of the first round of financing. For this we are to receive $2,000,000.00 minus the closing withdrawal fee of (1%) in business financing by adding business tradelines, funding will be procured as available cash to withdraw depending on or before X/XX/2024 if this agreement is countersigned on or before their quick approaching cutoff date along with the retainer fee deposit.
The Agreement is signed by the CEO of INTELLEGENT.AI, LLC with an address of 5525, NW 7TH Ave. Ste 502, Miami, FL 33127.
He is also referred to as the āINTELLEGENT.AI, LLC. /DBA;First Capital Lending: Business Credit Consultant Financier Consultant Company Authorized Representativeā.
I think it is worth mentioning this small excerpt that was disclosed in the body of the email accompanied by the PDF agreement to be signed:
ā Additionally, First Capital is a subsidiary to both INTELLEGENT.AI and Sustainability Work & Development a Public Private Initiative with government funding through Roots Collective and Coalition Works all working with the Advocate program in Miami, FL. The program is made for community hours in Urban socio-economically challenged areas in Florida.ā This is initially how the company pitched their capabilities of being able to provide the funding we needed and how we qualified for this LOC.
Any insight you can provide on this would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
