Arbolus
Arbolus is an expert network headquartered in London, UK and Barcelona, Spain. Two former AlphaSights managers joined forces to start Arbolus under the name CiQ Group in 2018. The company rebranded as Arbolus in 2019, which is today the client-facing name. It initially ran an "DIY Marketplace" model, where experts and clients would self-select each other. Over time, the firm shifted to a regular custom recruiting expert network model.
Over the years, Arbolus has increasingly shifted into market research surveys, as an addition to its 1-on-1 expert interviews. This was shown by the appointment of a former Kantar leader as CRO in 2022, and subsequent press releases about B2B data and surveys.
Arbolus is one of the handful of firms outright stating they use AI and machine learning in their work. Much of this technology is common across all larger expert networks. That said, various networks emphasize it more than others in their marketing. These include NewtonX, Prosapient, Techspert.io and Atheneum.
Arbolus generated revenues of £3.8m (€4.8m) revenues in 2021, and ~£12-15m in 2022, judging by working capital stated in their annual accounts.
Arbolus service offering
In 2023, the product offering contains:
Expert interviews
Canopy - a video survey tool, to collect short video replies from multiple experts.
Insights - a database of B2B customers, based off of data generated in the expert interview business.
The company initially offered two other services (and still do, to some legacy accounts):
DIY tools for clients to recruit and manage their own networks of experts
A platform for keeping records and transcripts of past expert interactions (reminiscent of the Inex One Knowledge Platform)
Arbolus milestones
2018 - Arbous was founded in London, UK as CiQ Group.
In 2019, CiQ rebranded its service as Arbolus.
Early 2020, Arbolus acquired Waterside, an upstart expert network firm launched the same year. The Waterside founder left the same year and eventually launched the competing expert network Sanibel Group.
Mid-2020, announced the company goal to do 1 million advisory relationships between clients and experts by end-2021. The company set a bold ambition, which led into the subsequent fundraising.
2021 - Arbolus raised $6m from Fuel Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures on a tech pitch, hiring a CTO the following month. The company has been growing its offices in Barcelona, Spain, keeping a smaller team in London.
2022 - Arbolus raised £12m from Element Ventures with debt funding from Silicon Valley Bank. The funding announcement said the company's revenues had tripled in the last year, and doubled the team size to 100. The revenue number is in line with our working capital analysis above. In the 2022 annual accounts, we see that the loan component was £2.5m, while ~£7.5m equity was injected. £2m was not shown in the accounts, which means it may have been a convertible, a non-cash component, or a delayed (milestone-dependent) equity component.
2024 - In November, Arbolus raised $20m from Kayne Anderson, Composition Capital and other investors.
2025 - In January, Arbolus started hiring for a team in a new Costa Rica office to serve clients in the US.
March 2025 - Arbolus' VC investor Fuel Ventures sold about half its holding, having generated a ~6x return in 4 years.
