On paper, it sounds almost philanthropic. A New York fintech called Fuse just announced it will hand out $5 million worth of free software to credit unions stuck in what the company calls "legacy vendor purgatory." The first 50 institutions to qualify get unfettered access to Fuse's loan origination platform—no charge—until their old contracts run out.
Then the bill comes due: reportedly $100,000 a year for larger credit unions, $50,000 for smaller ones. Flat fee, no implementation costs, no surprises.
Call it a rescue fund or call it an aggressive land grab. Either way, Fuse is betting that the pain points in outdated lending software have reached a breaking point—and that credit unions are finally ready to make the jump.
The gambit arrives on the heels of a $25 million Series A round the company announced March 16, 2026, led by Footwork and Primary Venture Partners. NextView Ventures and Commerce Ventures joined in, with some reports also listing FJ Labs and Clocktower Ventures among the participants. It's a healthy haul for a startup targeting an unglamorous corner of financial services: the clunky, decades-old systems that still process auto loans, consumer credit, and small business lending at thousands of U.S. credit unions.
The Pivot That Changed Everything
Fuse didn't start here. Co-CEOs Andres Klaric and Marc Escapa launched the company in 2020 as a consumer-facing automotive lending business—classic B2C fintech. For three years, they operated in that mode. Then, in 2023, something shifted.
Large language models had started to prove themselves beyond chatbots and marketing copy. Klaric and Escapa saw an opening: what if those same AI capabilities could overhaul the back-office infrastructure that credit unions and regional banks had been limping along on for years?
They pivoted. Hard.
Today, Fuse describes itself as an "AI-native" loan origination and account opening platform. The pitch centers on speed—faster implementation timelines than legacy vendors—and automation that's proactive rather than reactive. The company claims north of 200 integrations, contractual service-level agreements, and a product designed to handle everything from auto lending to small business credit.
More than 100 financial institutions have signed on, including Navigant Credit Union and Canopy Credit Union. Whether that customer base grows quickly enough to justify the Series A valuation is the open question.
Legacy Vendors, Meet Your Nemesis
The credit union market remains vast, if not exactly glamorous. As of March 2025, 4,411 institutions served 143.2 million members across the country, according to NCUA data—though those figures are now over a year old. Many of those credit unions still rely on loan origination systems that predate the iPhone—software built in an era when "digital transformation" meant adding a website.
Fuse isn't alone in trying to modernize this landscape. The market already has heavyweights like nCino, which went public, and MeridianLink, now backed by private equity. Startup challengers include Casca, which pulled in $29 million in Series A funding in 2025, and Glide, another upstart angling for the same customers.
Still, Fuse seems to think it has found an edge. In February 2026, the company announced a partnership with FIS—one of the largest financial technology providers in the world—to push digital auto loan and lease origination across the U.S. and Canada. FIS will act as an official reseller, giving Fuse distribution muscle it wouldn't have on its own.
That kind of alliance doesn't happen unless the incumbent sees something worth selling. Or unless the incumbent is hedging its bets.
The Rescue Fund: Altruism or Trojan Horse?
Back to that $5 million fund. It's cleverly structured. Credit unions that qualify get free access to Fuse's platform for the remainder of their existing vendor contracts—often a year or two. No upfront costs, no switching fees. Just a smooth off-ramp from whatever legacy system has been frustrating their loan officers.
Once the old contract expires, those institutions face a choice: pay the subscription fee or migrate again. Fuse is wagering most won't want to move twice. The friction of switching vendors is high enough that once a credit union has invested the time to integrate Fuse's platform, train staff, and rebuild workflows, the inertia favors staying put.
Whether 50 institutions take the bait remains unclear. But the fund signals confidence, or at least calculated risk. Fuse believes the pain of outdated software—slow processing times, manual data entry, customer complaints—has reached a threshold where credit unions will gamble on a relative newcomer.
Perhaps they're right. Or perhaps the market will prove stickier than the founders expect.
What Comes Next
Fuse plans to deploy the Series A capital toward expanding its AI-driven infrastructure and scaling its credit union footprint. The company hasn't disclosed revenue figures or growth metrics beyond the 100-plus customer milestone, which makes it difficult to assess traction beyond anecdotal wins.
The competitive landscape is only getting more crowded. Every fintech pivot story includes a moment when the founders realize they've stumbled into a bigger opportunity than the one they started chasing. Not all of those pivots work out.
For now, Fuse has cash, distribution through FIS, and a provocative customer acquisition hook. What it doesn't yet have is proof that the Rescue Fund can convert skeptical credit unions at scale—or that its AI-native platform delivers enough value to justify the subscription fees once the free ride ends.
The next 12 months will tell the story. Either Fuse becomes the infrastructure play that finally drags credit union lending into the modern era, or it joins the long list of fintechs that underestimated how hard it is to displace entrenched software vendors.
For the 50 credit unions weighing that free offer, the clock is already ticking.
