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Curql Collective, a CUSO focused on advancing fintech innovation for credit unions, officially closed out its venture capital fund, Curql Fund I, to investors at just over $250 million on Oct. 31, the CUSO announced.
The CUSO originally planned to close its fund at $150 million, but due to an overwhelming amount of interest, the fund's cap was raised to just over $250 million to allow for additional participation, Curql Collective said.
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Curql Collective's Curql Fund I invested in "the visions of entrepreneurs who thoughtfully and purposefully develop financial services technology that revolutionizes and innovates how people engage with their money."
Curql Collective said that 69 Limited Partners committed capital to Curql Fund I, with 10 joining in the final two weeks. The fund financially supported nine fintech CUSOs, seven of which have been made public:
- Eltropy, a Milpitas, Calif.-based digital communications platform provider for financial institutions, which signed deals with 31 credit unions in the third quarter of 2021. According to its website, it closed $25 million in its Series A funding round, led by K1 Investment Management with additional investment from the Curql Fund and CMFG Ventures in June 2021.
- Illuma Labs, a Plano, Texas-based CUSO that provides real-time voice authentication and fraud prevention solutions for credit unions. It secured $2.5 million from Curql Fund I in June 2021, according to its website.
- The Washington, D.C.-based MotoRefi, which is now named Caribou and provides a digital, consumer-facing auto loan refinance platform. It landed a $5 million investment from Curql Fund I in August 2021, according to a MotoRefi news release.
- WithClutch, a San Francisco-based SaaS provider that aims to transform credit unions into fintech lenders and turn recapture on autopilot, according to Curql Collective's website. WithClutch's website did not indicate the amount it received through Curql Fund I.
- Nymbus CUSO, which is focused on helping credit unions manage fintech solutions, landed a $5 million second round investment from Curql Fund I in June 2021.
- Zest AI, a Los Angeles-based provider of artificial intelligence-powered loan underwriting software, received an investment totaling an undisclosed amount from Curql Fund I in September 2021.
- CU Railz, the CUSO of digital payments company Payrailz, landed a $5.4 million investment through Curql Fund I in October 2021.
According to a Curql Collective spokesperson, two more investments are in the process of closing and have not yet been announced.
"The credit union industry was clearly ready for this type of opportunity," Curql Collective President/CEO Nick Evens stated. "With so many credit unions clamoring to invest in the fund right up to the end, we simply had to increase the size of the fund. It's very telling of the appetite the credit union industry has for financial technology that can activate real change in how they interact with their members. At Curql Collective, we're elated to see this coming together of like-minded credit union and fintech leaders – and we can't wait to watch what happens for the industry."
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
