• Three credit unions – VyStar CU, BCU, and Reseda Group – have invested in credit risk management specialist AKUVO.
• Terms of the funding were not disclosed.
• The new capital will help AKUVO further develop its credit risk and delinquency management platform, Aperture.

Credit risk and delinquency management specialist AKUVO announced a new investment not from the world of venture capital, but from the land of membership-powered credit unions. The amount of the investment was not disclosed, but the names of the credit unions involved in the funding have been: VyStar Credit Union, BCU, and Reseda Group, a wholly-owned CUSO (credit union service organization) of Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU).

The funding will enable AKUVO to further develop its collection and credit risk platform, Aperture. The cloud-based, API-enabled portfolio risk and delinquency management solution provides streamlined information for quick and easy research and leverages robotic processing to offer businesses a 20% improvement in collector efficiency, a 15% reduction of effort for speciality processes, a 10% reduction in collection workload, and a 10% increase in manager efficiency.

“Our goal is to empower members to discover financial freedom, and I am optimistic AKUVO’s data science solutions will help us accelerate our ability to do just that,” BCU EVP and COO Jim Block said. “We anticipate rapid growth over the next decade, and the Aperture platform has the promise to scale with our membership.”

With $5.5 billion in assets, BCU is based in Vernon Hills, Illinois, in the greater Chicago area. BCU is the smallest (by assets) of the three credit unions involved in AKUVO’s funding this week. Reseda Group is part of $6.8 billion MSUFCU and this investment represents the second time the institution has invested in AKUVO (the first being in January of this year).

“AKUVO’s Aperture platform will change the way we provide members with individual credit solutions that maximize recoveries,” MSUFCU Chief Risk Officer Jim Hunsanger said. “Aperture’s data-based decisioning also ensures we meet regulatory and legal requirements. We’re excited to be an AKUVO client and early investor.”

VyStar Credit Union, based in Jacksonville, Florida, has $12 billion in assets, and is one of the 15 largest credit unions in the country. Speaking on behalf of the firm, VyStar’s SVP of Loan Administration Eric Weatherly said that the investment in AKUVO will “allow us to be a greater force for change for our members and the credit union community.”

Courtesy of the investment, each of the three credit unions involved will have a representative on AKUVO’s board of directors. Headquartered in Pennsylvania, AKUVO was founded in 2019.

Photo by imustbedead

• Apple is using CNote’s platform to invest $25 million in underserved communities.
• Oakland-based CNote facilitates investments in economic equality, racial justice, gender equity and climate change initiatives.
• Apple joins other companies using CNote to invest, including Mastercard, Patagonia, PayPal, and Netflix.

CNote, a company that facilitates investments in fixed income and time deposit products that advance the social good, revealed its newest investor today. Apple is using the California-based company’s platform to invest $25 million in underserved communities.

“We’re committed to helping ensure that everyone has access to the opportunity to pursue their dreams and create our shared future,” said Apple VP of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson. “By working with CNote to get funds directly to historically under-resourced communities through their local financial institutions, we can support equity, entrepreneurship and access.”

Apple’s $25 million contribution is part of the company’s Racial Equity and Justice initiative, an effort to address systemic racism and expand opportunities for people of color.

CNote has already deployed some of the funds to an initial round of financial institutions, including:

• ANECA Federal Credit Union in Louisiana
• Bank of Cherokee County in Oklahoma
• Carver State Bank in Georgia
• Education Credit Union in Texas
• First Southwest Bank in Colorado
• Hope Credit Union, which serves Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee
• Kaua‘i Federal Credit Union in Hawai‘i
• Latino Community Credit Union in North Carolina
• Legacy Bank in Missouri
• Optus Bank in South Carolina
• Self-Help Federal Credit Union, with locations in California, Illinois, Washington, and Wisconsin
• VCC Bank in Virginia

As Bank of Cherokee County EVP Susannah Plumb Scott explained, the funds invested via the CNote platform can make a real difference in underserved communities. “Partnerships like the one we have with CNote and Apple are essential to our efforts to expand access to capital, as well as to financial products and services, in a historically underserved market,” said Scott, whose institution invests 95% of deposits back into Cherokee County.

Echoing those thoughts is Education Credit Union President and CEO Eric Jenkins, who said deposits like Apple’s “allow ECU to serve more consumers and meet a broader range of needs.”

Founded in 2016, CNote’s platform provides insured deposits to a group of vetted, mission-driven financial institutions, including community development financial institutions (CDFIs), low-income designated (LID) credit unions, and minority depository institutions (MDIs). These financial institutions use the deposits to help promote economic equality, racial justice, gender equity, and climate change initiatives.

CNote investors, a list that includes Mastercard, Patagonia, PayPal, Netflix, and now Apple, receive quarterly impact reports with details on which institutions received deposits and the populations that are benefiting.

CNote was a B Lab “Best for the World” honoree in 2019 and was named “Best Women-Owned Business” by the U.N. Women’s Empowerment Principles program in 2020. The company has raised $43 million.

Photo by Pixabay