CULedger, a credit union-owned CUSO that focuses on delivering innovative applications to credit unions through its cross-border global distributed ledger platform, announced today that it has secured $8.5 million in Series A funding.
This round of funding will continue through Nov. 18, 2018.
CULedger was developed out of one of the largest distributed ledger consortiums in the world and began as a research-to-action initiative to develop a working proof-of-concept, involving more than 30 credit unions and other industry organizations. CULedger found success in using distributed ledger technology to build a platform that enables credit unions to detect and prevent call center fraud and enable self-sovereign identity for members through its flagship product, MyCUID. CULedger became its own entity in June 2017 and plans to launch its pilot program later this year.
As a CUSO, the organization placed high importance on seeking credit union investors and to establish itself as a company for credit unions, by credit unions. CULedger set the goal of $10 million in Series A funding in October 2017 and has secured 32 investors, with more pending. The CUSO is well-ahead of schedule to meet its funding goal and has been unusually successful, with many startups struggling to meet Series A funding goals of $3 or $6 million. The majority of investors are credit unions, which attests to the practical industry application of MyCUID.
“Having received such a positive response from the credit union community in our efforts to deliver the first universal digital credential through self-sovereign identification, we realize the need for digital identity is widespread,” said John Ainsworth, president and CEO of CULedger. “With the support from our investors, CULedger is positioned to develop distributed ledger solutions for the digital identity crisis, keeping credit unions the most trusted financial institutions.”