This year’s Innovation Series returns with bigger impact and broader horizons. Since 2018, this annual showcase has spotlighted forward-thinking solutions by giving innovators a stage to share ideas, demonstrate solutions, and spark meaningful change.
The Innovation Series is celebrating 2026 with a diverse slate of finalists whose breakthroughs are reshaping member experience, data and business intelligence, lending, employee engagement, fraud prevention, and digital member engagement — all with the power to help credit unions thrive in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Register for the Innovations In Reimagining The Lending Experience webinar on Thursday, March 12th at 2PM EST.
Read on to learn more about this year’s finalists in lending: Cloudvirga, Enable Technologies, Fuse, Suntell.
Cloudvirga:
Describe your Innovation:
Tropos is a configurable loan point-of-sale (POS) platform that sits in front of the loan origination system, connecting the core and third-party services through a unified, API-driven experience. The platform manages borrower and sales staff interactions, data intake, document collection, and real-time validations while seamlessly passing clean, structured data into the LOS. By acting as an intelligent engagement and integration layer, Tropos improves data quality, reduces rework, and enables credit unions to deliver faster, more consistent digital lending experiences without modifying their core or downstream systems.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
Credit unions face increasing pressure to deliver modern, digital-first lending experiences while operating on fragmented legacy systems that were not designed to work together across all loan types (residential mortgage, consumer, auto, etc). Disconnected cores, LOS platforms, and third-party services often create inconsistent member experiences, duplicate data entry, and operational inefficiencies that slow decisioning and funding. Tropos addresses this challenge by acting as a flexible point-of-sale layer that unifies borrower and staff interactions, standardizes data capture, and integrates seamlessly with existing systems — allowing credit unions to modernize lending experiences, improve data quality, and scale efficiently without costly core or LOS replacements.
How does it increase member value?
Tropos increases member value by removing friction from the lending experience and giving members a faster, more transparent path from application to funding. By unifying data capture, document collection, and third-party integrations within a single point-of-sale experience, Tropos reduces repetitive questions, minimizes errors, and shortens turnaround times. Members benefit from intuitive digital interactions, real-time status visibility, and fewer follow-ups — while credit unions deliver a consistent, high-quality experience that reinforces trust, loyalty, and long-term member relationships.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
Tropos is differentiated by its role as a true system-agnostic point-of-sale layer that decouples the member experience from the underlying LOS, core, and third-party providers. Unlike POS solutions that are tightly coupled to a single LOS or require time-consuming and expensive customization, Tropos uses easily configurable workflows, API-driven integrations, and real-time customizations to adapt to each credit union’s existing ecosystem. This allows credit unions to modernize the member experience, maintain flexibility to change downstream systems, and avoid vendor lock-in—while preserving control over data, compliance, and operational processes.
Enable Technologies:
Describe your innovation.
Enable is redefining origination by bringing deposits and loans together on a single, AI-driven platform. We’ve built a unified experience that works seamlessly across digital, branch, and call center channels, powered by AI that guides both end users and frontline staff in real time. It’s not incremental improvement but rather it’s a fundamental shift in how financial institutions originate full long-lasting relationships.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
For years, credit unions have been forced to operate with fragmented systems. One for deposits, another for lending, whereby creating friction for members, staff, and operations teams. Enable eliminates that disconnect. We address the growing need for speed, simplicity, and intelligence while helping institutions keep pace with rising expectations, compliance complexity, and competition from larger banks and fintechs.
How does it increase member value?
Members and business owners get faster decisions, fewer handoffs, and a more intuitive experience whether they’re opening an account, applying for credit, or bundling products in a single journey. Behind the scenes, AI helps surface the right products, answers questions instantly, and reduces errors which ultimately translates into better service, stronger relationships, and higher satisfaction.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
Most platforms still treat deposits and loans as separate workflows. Enable was built from day one as a unified platform with AI embedded at the core – not bolted on. As a member of the executive leadership team, I’ve had the great privilege of seeing Enable evolve rapidly alongside our amazing client partners — such as Nuvision Federal Credit Union ($3.9B, Huntington Beach, CA) and Meriwest Credit Union ($2.1B, San Jose, CA) — incorporating real-world feedback into smarter automation, conversational AI, and flexible configuration. That pace of innovation and our ability to deliver value quickly is what truly sets Enable apart. What further differentiates Enable is the experience behind the platform. Our founders and executive leadership team bring decades of hands-on experience partnering with more than 50+ credit unions with a proven track record of delivering on commitments and turning vision into reality. That history of execution exellence and the long-standing trust we’ve built with innovative credit union partners is something we take great pride in and continue to earn every day.
Fuse:
Describe your Innovation:
Fuse is an AI native loan origination system (LOS) and account opening (AO) for credit unions and other consumer lenders. Fuse is backed with $25M+ from the top-tier investors behind Chime and Alloy, being used by 100+ institutions including Navigant Credit Union ($4.1B, Smithfield, RI) and is the one LOS that FIS re-sells to top 50 banks (selected after reviewing 10+).
Credit unions need to automate to compete with the fintechs and top 10 banks. All traditional LOSs say their platform can deliver “up to 100% automation,” but since that has not materialized in decades, credit unions are rightfully skeptical. This is why Fuse sells its proactive automation money-back guarantee:
- Proactive: Many CUs stall on automation because their staff is overwhelmed with the needs of the day to day. We know people are 71% more likely to go to the gym if there’s a personal trainer nudging them, and Fuse implemented a similar nudge. Every two weeks, the CU meets with a Fuse automation specialist who showcases the automation opportunities identified by our Proactive AI Lending Copilot, and the aligned automations get implemented by either Fuse’s team or the CU. The goal is to get 1%+ more automated every week, leading to >60% true improvements year on year.
- Money-Back Guarantee: CUs are skeptical of being promised opportunities that then do not materialize. That is why Fuse implemented the first industry money-back guarantee in both product capabilities and company practices. Our contract incorporates guarantees so they do not need to rely on salesmanship or nice words. Some examples:
- Product Capabilities: The system is able to decision on 100% of their core data and board 100% clean applications to their core without post-boarding clean up. The system can lead to 100% auto-decision based on any field or source of data.
- Company Practices: Integrations are free forever (install and maintain), can be self-built by the client in a 100% open ecosystem or built by Fuse with a guarantee of delivery in under one month, and can be bought directly from partners rather than through mark-ups of up to 2x.
- Implementation risk coverage: Fuse deploys its own team to run the full implementation rather than relying on CU staff, and assumes the risk on timelines by tying commercial commitments to agreed go-live dates, including covering additional costs from the prior LOS if those contracts need to be extended.
- Ongoing improvements: After go-live, Fuse contractually commits to meeting every two weeks to review and implement new automation opportunities and provides real-time chat support with short SLAs and an assigned team that knows the institution’s configuration and can unblock issues quickly.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
The core issue is automation skepticism arising from failed vendor promises, forcing CUs into costly manual processes that hinder staff focus and member experience. Fuse counters this with an AI-native LOS platform offering proactive automation with a money-back guarantee. This shifts risk to Fuse, ensuring guaranteed, measurable improvements in efficiency, staff utilization, and member satisfaction through modern technology.
How does it increase member value?
- Streamlined process with no rekeying: Fuse pulls data directly from the core, so members are not asked to enter the same information twice.
- Flexible channel hopping: Members can start an application online and finish it in the branch, or the other way around, without losing progress.
- More valuable staff interactions: With staff work reduced two- or three-fold, employees can focus their time and energy on sharing advice and cross-promotions.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
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- Model: Legacy LOS deliver a system, then rely on tickets and internal bandwidth. Fuse takes ownership for automation outcomes, not just feature delivery.
- Technology: Our AI copilot continuously scans underwriting and funding workflows in production to surface concrete automation opportunities. Institutions can move toward near-total automation while setting their own pace and risk thresholds.
- Operating cadence: Every two weeks, our team meets with the credit union, reviews real data and brings specific rule, workflow and integration changes, then helps implement them so improvements actually go live.
- Alignment with credit unions: We do not charge for integrations and keep an open ecosystem, so credit unions can use the partners and tools they prefer without extra friction or hidden costs.
Suntell:
Describe your Innovation:
Square 1 Credit Suite is Suntell’s purpose-built credit lifecycle platform for member business lending at credit unions. It was designed specifically to help institutions bring MBL in-house and scale it responsibly, rather than relying on adapted bank systems, outsourced workflows, or external decisioning models.
Square 1 standardizes how business credit is evaluated, documented, and reviewed, allowing lending teams to make faster loan decisions while maintaining consistent credit standards. By creating clarity across lenders, reviewers, and leadership, credit unions are better able to explain decisions, support exam expectations, and deliver a more predictable experience for business members.
The innovation behind Square 1 is its focus on credit discipline as a growth enabler. Credit unions retain ownership and control of their lending process, enabling them to modernize MBL operations in a way that strengthens member relationships rather than outsourcing them.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
Credit unions face increasing demand for member business lending, but many struggle to grow MBL without slowing decisions or losing consistency. Manual processes, fragmented tools, and lender-to-lender variability often lead to longer turnaround times and difficulty clearly explaining outcomes to members, boards, and examiners.
To manage this complexity, institutions often rely on manual workarounds, spreadsheets, email-driven processes, or disconnected systems to bridge gaps in the lending process. While these approaches can help in the short term, they can limit control, reduce transparency, and make it difficult to scale MBL in a sustainable way.
Square 1 addresses this challenge by giving credit unions a structured framework to manage business credit internally. The opportunity it unlocks is responsible growth. Institutions can move faster, maintain disciplined credit standards, and deliver more consistent experiences for business members without introducing unnecessary complexity.
How does it increase member value?
Square 1 increases member value by improving how credit unions respond to business lending requests. By standardizing credit analysis and credit file content, lending teams reduce rework and delays, resulting in faster loan decisions and clearer communication with members.
For business members, this creates a more predictable and transparent experience. Decisions are based on consistent credit standards rather than individual interpretation, which builds trust and confidence in the credit union as a reliable financial partner. Members spend less time waiting for updates and more time focusing on their businesses.
By enabling credit unions to manage member business lending internally, Square 1 also strengthens long-term relationships. Credit unions maintain direct ownership of decisions and outcomes, allowing them to support local businesses with dependable access to credit while staying true to their cooperative mission.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
Square 1 is differentiated by how it aligns with the operational reality of member business lending at credit unions. In many institutions, MBL teams operate with distinct workflows and priorities that differ from enterprise-wide banking systems.
Square 1 was designed to deliver value within that environment by providing a cohesive credit lifecycle framework for underwriting, credit file consistency, and portfolio oversight. Institutions are able to improve credit discipline and decision speed without first undertaking complex, enterprise-scale integration projects.
This allows credit unions to strengthen member business lending without overengineering their technology environment. Teams can focus first on credit consistency, decision quality, and adoption, while maintaining flexibility to evolve processes and integrations over time as needs change.
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