From fraud protection to more personalized member experiences, this year’s semifinalists reflect the priorities credit unions are ready to test.
FiLab’s 2027 Test Menu is taking shape, and it starts with a record. Filene received 120+ submissions this cycle, a 39% increase over 2025 and the largest applicant pool in FiLab’s history, with 77% coming from first-time applicants. From that pool, 25 fintech solutions and two FiLab Discovery Tests have advanced to sponsor evaluation: 27 test ideas in all.
FiLab exists to move innovation beyond the demo. Rather than asking whether a solution simply looks promising, FiLab asks whether it can be tested collaboratively, implemented in real credit union environments, and translated into evidence credit unions can act on. To reach the semifinalist round, each idea was weighed on testability, learning value, differentiation, readiness, and execution feasibility.
The volume is the headline, but the quality of the pool is the real story. Narrowing the field to 27 left no easy cuts: every idea that advanced earned its place, and each has the potential to move the credit union industry forward.
A few patterns stand out across the group. Many of the ideas are built to be tested with little or no core integration, so a credit union can run a real pilot without a heavy IT lift. And together they span the full member journey, from onboarding and everyday engagement to lending, compliance, and financial well-being.
The 27 Semifinalist Test Ideas
Member Growth & Digital Engagement
Personalized digital experiences designed to attract, activate, engage and retain members while deepening relationships and supporting financial well-being.
Swaystack: Activate accounts. Engage to grow.
Cyder: Embedded loyalty and rewards to deepen member engagement.
Eko + Kiro Money: Embedded investing with a personalized AI financial assistant.
Cache: The family CFO for the AI era, delivered through your credit union.
Starlight: Embedded benefits and financial assistance CUSO.
LetMeDoIt: Member-led money, supported by the people they trust.
Lending, Payments & Deposits
Innovative approaches that improve lending, payment and deposit services to expand access, increase growth and create better financial outcomes for members.
LendAPI: Rapid loan product launch and embedded finance.
Union Credit: Prequalification for loan and credit card offers.
Muse: From paycheck accuracy to deposit growth.
Bloom Credit: Giving credit where credit is due.
Remynt: Digital self-cure for delinquent accounts.
Payments Intelligence Sandbox (Discovery): Dynamic payment routing for cost, speed, and risk.
Fraud, Scam & Risk Protection
Proactive tools that help credit unions prevent scams, identify risk earlier and streamline fraud and compliance investigations while reducing losses and member friction.
Falkin: Member-facing scam prevention tools.
Themis: AI-powered compliance and risk operations.
Socratix AI: AI coworkers for fraud investigations.
Charm Security: Agentic AI workforce for scams and fraud prevention and resolution.
Tunic Pay: Real-time payment intelligence that stops scams and rebuilds trust.
Institutional Operations & Automation
AI, automation and specialized technologies that simplify internal workflows, reduce staff effort and improve operational efficiency and service delivery.
Rise Analytics: 5300 Call Report automation.
CUltivate AI: Credit union-specific AI knowledge assistant.
Sei AI: AI loan document review and processing.
KeySavvy: Private-party auto loan support.
Traduality: Standardized multicultural member experience across every department.
Solution Playground: Neutral solution discovery and evaluation marketplace.
Data & Member Intelligence
Data-driven capabilities that transform financial and behavioral information into actionable insights for personalized outreach, business growth, stronger decision-making and proactive member support.
FinGoal: Transaction intelligence for next-best-action marketing.
Crediwire: Standardized small-business accounting data for lending, risk and advisory.
Crux Analytics: Relationship intelligence for business member growth.
Financial Well-Being Response System (Discovery): Early detection and response for member financial stress.
What happens next is where FiLab is different.
At the FiLab Symposium in Kansas City, August 25–27, sponsor credit unions will hear pitches, weigh the learning opportunity behind each concept, and vote to select the collaborative tests that will anchor FiLab’s 2027 cycle. The winning solutions move into a collaborative testing cohort beginning January 2027, an agenda built by credit unions, for credit unions, with shared learning at its center.
For full category placements, strategic focus areas, and track designations, explore the complete menu.
