By John San Filippo
The 2024 edition of Money20/20 USA was held in Las Vegas, Oct. 27-30. Finopotamus caught up with Curql Collective CEO Nick Evens to discuss Money20/20, the upcoming VentureTech conference, and fintech investing in the credit union space. Evens describes Curql as “an ecosystem built by credit unions for credit unions, with the centerpiece being a family of strategic investment funds that facilitate collaboration between fintech and the credit union industry.”
On Money20/20
Money20/20 is an ideal venue for fintech investors on the lookout for what’s next, Evens told Finopotamus. “It's a who's who of people making investments in fintech and the fintechs that are evolving and seeking that investment,” he said. “It's just a giant networking event where there seems to be a lot of money at play.”
Evens sees part of his role as making sure credit unions are adequately represented at major events such as Money20/20. “Credit unions get lost at a big event like this,” he noted. “There just isn't that many credit unions here. My goal is to try to keep the credit unions together and moving in the same direction.”
As an example of this effort, Evens pointed to an event that Curql sponsored the morning of Oct. 28. “We hosted a breakfast where we invited every credit union attendee at this conference (including Finopotamus),” he recounted. “Then we invited some of our portfolio companies. It was just a networking breakfast, and it was very well attended and seems to have gone over well.” Among the notable attendees were NCUA Vice Chairman Kyle Hauptman and NCUA Senior Advisor to the Vice Chairman Sarah Bang.
Serving Credit Unions
According to Evens, the idea of uniting credit unions so they can all have better technology is central to Curql’s mission. “Today there are more 125 credit unions in our ecosystem, and that's growing every single day as we raise money for Curql Fund No. 2,” he explained. “We believe that this ecosystem around collaborating and access to vetted, transformative technology solutions is key to helping credit unions remain relevant.”
He continued, “A lot of credit unions are at the Curql table to remain relevant – to see what's coming at them and to make sure that they understand where technology is headed. That's all to combat the big banks and the big fintechs that are attempting to disintermediate us.”
Not Alone
Curql Collective is one of three major players in credit union fintech investment, the other two being MSU Federal Credit Union’s CUSO Reseda Group and TruStage Ventures, the fintech investment arm of TruStage (formerly CUNA Mutual Group). Finopotamus asked Evens to explain the difference between the three.
“TruStage is doing fabulous things in the industry,” said Evens. “We consider TruStage a strategic partner, an alliance partner, but they're investing off their own balance sheet. In other words, they're making direct investments in fintech on behalf of TruStage. When they make an investment, it's their investment. They own the investment. They're trying to bring that fintech to market and help that fintech grow in the credit union space. That's a good thing for everybody.”
Reseda Group plays a slightly different yet equally important role, according to Evens. “While Reseda Group is investing in fintech,” he explained, “they're more of an incubator or accelerator. They're taking positions in startup fintech with the hope that they can help grow them, but they're doing it for the benefit of the industry. That's also a good thing. We consider them strategic alliance partners as well.” Evens noted that Curql and Reseda have invested in several of the same companies.
“We're all doing similar things,” he added. “We're all doing it to benefit the industry, but at the end of the day, TruStage owns its investments, Reseda owns its investments and our 100 plus credit union investors are the owners of what we're doing.”
On VentureTech
In its seventh year, VentureTech is a fintech showcase event that Evens cofounded with Jenny Jackson. Jackson is the Alliance Manager for CUNA Strategic Services, an as yet un-rebranded division of America’s Credit Unions. The 2024 edition of VentureTech will be held Nov. 12-14 in Frisco, Tex.
“VentureTech is a fintech showcase event for the entire credit union industry,” said Evens. “We'll have credit unions, credit union leagues, league service corporations, CUSOs – we’ll have strategic investors like Curql there. Credit unions can come together in one place to see 25 fintechs pitch on stage.”
He added that the goal is to showcase new technology. “You're not going to see the old legacy companies standing up there talking about the same old thing,” he explained. “We're trying to find the next best thing. And we've discovered some fabulous companies at VentureTech.”
Evens noted that when Eltropy participated in VentureTech in 2018, that company had three customers. Today they have 700.
“Those are the kinds of things that we're looking for,” said Evens. “Really young companies that have something that's going to impact our industry. [At VentureTech] they get to show it off and get their feet wet in the credit union industry. We have fun and we network and it's just a great event.”
Evens said that registration for VentureTech is open up to the first day of the event.