VIENNA, Va.–Credit unions have announced three different investments in CUSOs.
In Virginia, Our Community Credit Union (OURCU) said it has made an investment in AiVantage, an AI-driven platform the company said was built to “help credit unions and mid-sized financial institutions deliver hyper-personalized member experiences at scale.”
OURCU’s investment in the CUSO will give it a seat on the board.
According to AiVantage, its flagship solution, Interactive AI, enables credit unions to engage each member with tailored, real-time communications through their preferred channels—”helping institutions move beyond traditional segmentation to true one-to-one hyper-personalized interactions.”
‘Breaking Barriers’
“We are excited to welcome OURCU to the AiVantage family,” Karan Bhalla, CEO and co-founder of AiVantage in a statement. “OURCU strongly aligns with our vision of ‘Breaking Barriers through Innovation’ and their investment is a strong validation of our path to transform credit union marketing and member engagement through AI.”
Bhalla and Suchit Shah—now CEO and COO, respectively—previously led CU Rise, a data analytics CUSO. OURCU said it was among the early supporters of CU Rise.
;Natural’ Response
“At OURCU, we’ve always believed in backing innovative solutions and the people behind them,” OURCU CEO Philip Prothero, CEO of OURCU. “With the rise of AI, it was only natural to lead the way again. Investing in AiVantage—and serving on its board—is a continuation of our shared mission to equip credit unions for the future. Additionally, AiVantage brings a revolutionary marketing AI solution that we intend to rollout to our membership over the next few months.”
CUSO Investment in Washington
WSECU Invests
Separately, in Washington Sate, the CUSO Remynt is reporting it has secured an investment from One Washington Financial, the wholly-owned holding company of WSECU in Olympia, Wash. As part of the investment, will also become a CUSO.
Strategic Technology Advisors Launches as CUSO
Separately, in Grand Rapids, Mich., the CUSO Strategic Technology Advisors (STA) has been launched. STA focuses on consulting and services across a broad technology spectrum, including fractional CIO/CISO, cybersecurity audit and assessment, governance/risk and compliance, strategic technology planning, and more, according to the organization.
“Having worked with credit unions for over 20 years, technology has become a strong pillar, on which credit unions rely to deliver solutions for their members and to grow their institutions,” CEO Matt Sawtell said in a statement. “We believe the credit union industry needs a trusted resource and partner on the credit union’s side of the table, as opposed to a vendor simply selling their particular set of solutions. Our goal at STA is to help guide CUs in the ever-changing industry of technology planning and information security. Our range of products and services have been designed to meet and adapt to the specific needs of a financial institution, and to maximize the value of their investment in time and resources.”
‘Solutions-Agnostic’
STA said in a statement it is a solutions agnostic group that can help credit unions by aligning their business plan with their IT execution.
“Technology has become a key factor in how we serve our members and how we grow our credit union,” Vickie Schmitzer, CEO at Frankenmuth CU, said in a statement. “We are excited to build and bring this great resource to other credit unions with the same challenges we’ve worked through.”