How TruStage Ventures built connective tissue between fintechs and credit unions
- For fintechs, cracking the credit union market is notoriously difficult—it's relationship-based, insular, and requires a fundamentally different approach than banking.
- TruStage Ventures has become essential connective tissue, deploying $400 million across 50 companies and facilitating over 3,000 partnerships with credit unions serving 140 million Americans.
For fintechs, cracking the credit union market is notoriously difficult. It’s relationship-based, insular, and requires a fundamentally different approach than banking. Many try and fail. But when done right, it opens up distribution to institutions serving over 140 million Americans.
Today I’m joined by Brian Kaas, president and managing director of TruStage Ventures, the corporate VC arm of TruStage — a $5.5 billion annual revenue insurer that works with 92% of credit unions nationwide. Since 2016, TruStage Ventures has deployed $400 million across 50 portfolio companies and facilitated over 3,000 partnerships between credit unions and fintechs.
We first spoke with Brian in 2021 when the fund was just gaining traction. Four years later, the portfolio has matured with companies like Ethos, Current, and SmartAsset, and Brian’s team has become essential connective tissue between innovative fintechs and credit union distribution.
We’ll dig into what makes credit union partnerships different, why so many fintechs struggle to break in, and why stablecoin solutions have become the number one request Brian’s hearing from credit union CEOs.
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Eight years of battle scars
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