How GrowthSpree Built Uptiq.ai an ABM Engine for Modern Financial Leaders
Conservative financial buyers rarely move fast on AI. Uptiq.ai needed to win them anyway. A 120-day, multi-layered ABM motion across four lending segments turned $2,700 of ad spend into $400K+ in pipeline — with CFO-level engagement across 150+ enterprise accounts.
Key Takeaways
Uptiq.ai — an AI credit and lending automation platform — hired GrowthSpree to expand its footprint among CFOs, credit leaders, and lending heads across the U.S. A multi-layered ABM motion combining segment-specific paid ads, personalized LinkedIn outreach, and event-led nurturing built a repeatable engine for enterprise pipeline.
- $400K+ in pipeline and 8 opportunities created — on just $2,700 of LinkedIn ad spend.
- 3,874 ABM connections at 12.9% acceptance, a 23% reply rate, and 50 interested prospects.
- CXO-level engagement across 150+ enterprise accounts — CFOs, SVPs, and Credit Heads.
- Closed deals including $50K from Nubank and a confirmed $100K Equipment Finance opportunity.
- Events were the top lever: 30–50% conversion per event, lifting replies 3–4× over cold outreach.
- 80% of opportunities came via LinkedIn — personalized messaging plus human follow-up beat email.
The Mission
Uptiq.ai helps banks, credit unions, and SMB lenders streamline their intake, underwriting, and credit memo processes with AI — without overhauling their loan origination system. In 2025, Uptiq set out to expand its footprint among CFOs, credit leaders, and lending heads across the U.S., using ABM and targeted ad campaigns to reach high-intent enterprise prospects.
The Challenge
Financial institutions are among the most conservative AI buyers, and the people who matter — CFOs, VPs, and Credit Ops Heads — are notoriously hard to reach. Uptiq needed to build awareness and trust across four very different lending segments, prove its AI-enabled origination narrative to skeptical leaders, and convert event-driven interest into real pipeline — all on a lean budget and within long financial sales cycles.
What We Were Up Against
Our Strategy
We designed a multi-layered ABM motion built on one principle: match the message to the person's function and the moment's context. Awareness ads, personalized LinkedIn outreach, email coverage, and event-led plays all reinforced a single, non-disruptive promise — cut time-to-offer by 60–80% without replacing the LOS.
Build awareness and engagement among CFOs, VPs, and Credit Ops Heads in financial institutions.
Convert event-driven interest (ELFA, Digital Banking, Private Debt Investor Network) into pipeline.
Test Uptiq's AI loan-origination and credit-automation narrative across four key segments.
The GrowthSpree Approach
Segment-specific LinkedIn paid ads built awareness, while personalized ABM outreach (via Dripify) was tuned by function — Finance, Risk, or Lending Ops — and context — Event, Product, or Region — with a human follow-up on every promising reply. Email layers (Instantly and an AiSDR agent) extended coverage between touches.
On top of that, an event calendar — ELFA Innovation Lab, the Private Debt Investor Network, and the Digital Banking Conference — was used as a series of intent triggers, turning warm event context into qualified meetings and opportunities.
How GrowthSpree Saved the Day
Segment-Specific Paid Ads
LinkedIn ads tuned to each vertical drove up to a 2.1% CTR and reached 55% of the Equipment Finance audience — proof that targeted creative beats generic messaging.
Personalized LinkedIn ABM
Function- and context-specific messaging with human follow-up converted at the top of the funnel — and drove roughly 80% of all opportunities, far ahead of email.
Event-Led Intent Triggers
ELFA, the Private Debt Investor Network, and the Digital Banking Conference acted as catalysts — converting at 30–50% per event and lifting replies 3–4× over cold outreach.
The Four-Segment Deep Dive
One engine, four tailored narratives — each tuned to the people and the proof that move that market.
Ran the highest-resonance paid ads of the program and targeted executives like an SVP at Equify Financial. Reached 55% of the Equipment Finance audience (39% of dealers), with ad CTRs up to 2.1%.
3 prospects requested product demos; 1 opportunity worth $100K confirmed.
Star insight: The strongest paid-ad resonance in the program paired with a confirmed six-figure opportunity — equipment finance leaders responded to targeted, outcome-led creative.
Paired a "Navigating AI in Credit Union" webinar with LSA campaigns. Reach was 12% (clear scaling potential), the highest-CTR ad hit 2.10%, and acceptance ran 8–14% with manual-hot replies from credit leaders (e.g., a Spreading & Memo Automation sequence).
2 warm opportunities opened immediately after the credit union webinar.
Star insight: Educational, webinar-led context turned skeptical credit union leaders warm — and the low 12% reach signals significant room to scale this segment.
Led with the program's best-performing message — "We've helped SMB lenders cut time-to-offer by 60–80% without replacing their LOS." Targeted founders and COOs at platforms like Rapid Finance, Founderpath, and Lendr.
6 replies scheduling calls, at an average 16% acceptance rate — the message drove 33% replies and 24% interest in this cohort.
Star insight: The "without replacing your LOS" promise was the single best performer — removing the migration fear unlocked the highest engagement of any cohort.
Used the Private Debt Investor Network event as an intent trigger and targeted CXOs and Managing Partners at HSBC, AllianceBernstein, and Rithm Capital. The play hit a 47% reply rate.
Direct replies from HSBC, AllianceBernstein, and Rithm Capital; one meeting scheduled with the Head of Private Credit at HSBC.
Star insight: An event context opened warm doors to tier-1 institutions that almost never respond to cold outreach — including a booked meeting with HSBC's Head of Private Credit.
The Results
Acceptance Rate
Conversations (23%)
Prospects
On just $2,700 in ad spend, 3,874 ABM connections produced ~500 accepts, 115 replies, and 50 interested prospects — converting into 8 opportunities worth $400K+, including closed deals from Nubank ($50K) and a $100K Equipment Finance funder.
Performance Breakdown
How a lean, multi-layer motion turned conservative financial buyers into six-figure pipeline.
CFO & VP-Level Leaders Engaged
Personalized outreach opened conversations with senior finance and credit leaders at organizations like:
What Made It Work
The learnings that turned a lean budget into a repeatable ABM motion.
Segment-specific creatives beat generic ads
Equipment Finance and Credit Union ads achieved up to a 2.1% CTR with targeted messaging — far above what one-size-fits-all creative delivers in financial services.
Events are top-tier ABM levers
Anchoring outreach to ELFA, Private Debt, and Digital Banking lifted reply rates 3–4× over cold outreach and converted at 30–50% per event.
Personalized LinkedIn + human follow-up converts
About 80% of opportunities originated via direct LinkedIn messaging, not email — proof that personalization plus a human touch wins conservative buyers.
CFO-driven conversations convert fastest
Across every vertical, CFOs and SVPs were the strongest responders, replying consistently to ROI- and efficiency-oriented copy.
Strategic Impact
Through hyper-personalized outreach, event-led nurturing, and continuous ad optimization, Uptiq built a repeatable ABM motion — generating CXO-level engagement across 150+ enterprise accounts, delivering tangible ROI through event-led conversions and CFO-driven discussions, and positioning Uptiq.ai as a credible, AI-driven partner for credit and lending transformation. In just 120 days, the system evolved from audience building to multi-channel deal generation.
Uptiq.ai's ABM playbook proved that when personalization meets persistence, even conservative financial buyers — CFOs and SVPs — engage deeply with AI-led transformation narratives.
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