Fuse, a US-based financial technology company developing an AI-driven loan origination system (LOS), has raised USD 25 million in Series A funding.
The round was led by Footwork, with participation from Primary Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, and Commerce Ventures. The capital will support platform expansion across additional credit unions and accelerate product development around AI-powered lending automation.
Fuse builds a loan origination system designed to manage the full loan lifecycle, from application intake and underwriting through to approval and credit disbursement, using AI-based automation and large language models to simplify workflows and increase processing capacity. The company reports that more than 100 institutions are already using its platform.
Legacy infrastructure and switching costs
The US credit union sector, which comprises more than 4,000 institutions, largely continues to operate on legacy LOS platforms built on outdated infrastructure. Implementation timelines for conventional systems can extend to a year, and many institutions are locked into multi-year vendor contracts that are costly to exit. These constraints have limited technology adoption among smaller, community-focused lenders that typically operate with limited engineering resources.
To address switching costs directly, Fuse has established a USD 5 million programme it describes as a rescue fund, which will provide qualifying credit unions with free access to its platform until their existing contracts with legacy providers expire. The initiative is designed to lower the barrier to migration for institutions that want to adopt modern technology but cannot exit current agreements immediately.
Fuse was founded by Andres Klaric and Marc Escapa, who initially built an automotive lending startup before pivoting to broader lending infrastructure after identifying opportunities to apply large language models to loan origination processes. The company competes with established LOS vendors, including nCino and MeridianLink, as well as newer AI-focused platforms.
Nikhil Basu Trivedi, co-founder and general partner at Footwork, said credit unions want to adopt AI but lack a clear path to doing so, citing the scale of institutions still operating on outdated systems. Klaric said credit unions have the local presence and member relationships to be competitive, the missing piece is the right technology.
