Credit Unions – SchoolsFirst, Members 1st, Truliant and ORNL – and Citi Invest in Zest Amidst Rapidly Growing Demand for AI-Native Lending Products
Zest AI, a leading provider of AI-powered lending solutions, announced the successful completion of an oversubscribed, customer-led financing round. The investment was led by five of the company’s key customers – SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, Members 1st Federal Credit Union, ORNL Federal Credit Union, Truliant Federal Credit Union, and Citi, through its investing group Citi Ventures.
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The financing represents a significant valuation increase from Zest AI’s previous growth round, reflecting the company’s strong momentum as more financial institutions evolve legacy underwriting systems with AI-driven solutions. The new capital will power the expansion of Zest AI’s automation initiatives across the full borrower journey and drive wider implementation of its Generative AI-powered lending intelligence platform, LuLu. Zest AI is benefiting from unprecedented demand for AI-enabled capabilities in financial services, as lenders increasingly embrace artificial intelligence to improve underwriting accuracy, expand access to credit, streamline operations, and drive growth.
“Our instant approval rate has more than doubled. Institutionalizing Zest AI’s technology across our lending operations has been game-changing for our member experience and our business results,” said Bill Cheney, CEO at SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union. “When we signed on a year ago, we had an ambitious vision, and the results have exceeded our expectations. This is a partnership that’s delivering real value and will continue to drive innovation for our members well into the future.”
“As we look to modernize our lending operations and improve access to affordable credit, finding advanced solutions is essential,” said Michael Wilson, CEO of Members 1st Federal Credit Union. “Through our use of LuLu, Zest AI’s Generative AI lending intelligence platform, we’ve seen firsthand how it helps lenders to become better financial institutions through sizable and scalable solutions with complete transparency in its decisioning models. LuLu has also been extremely valuable in benchmarking data against peers, which allows us to be more nimble in taking decisive action, all within the same platform. The partnership with Zest AI has given us confidence in the use of AI without compromising compliance or performance, and we are especially excited about the potential of LuLu and the innovation it represents for the industry, as well as our regulators. That’s why we are proud to deepen our trusted partnership with Zest AI as an investor and support their continued leadership in modernizing lending.”
Zest AI has cemented its role as a leader in responsible AI for financial services. With more than 50 issued and pending patents and over 650 proprietary credit models, Zest AI’s technology is used by nearly 300 lenders – from credit unions and community banks to large enterprise financial institutions – with solutions spanning automated underwriting, LuLu lending intelligence platform, and Zest Protect for fraud detection. Its machine learning models deliver significantly greater accuracy than legacy credit scores, enabling lenders to achieve, on average, a 25% increase in approvals with no added risk and reduce defaults by 20%, while holding approvals constant.
“Having our customers become investors is the ultimate validation of our technology and vision,” said Mike de Vere, CEO of Zest AI. “This round reflects both financial and operational confidence from institutions that use our AI solutions every day to transform their businesses and deliver greater value to their customers and members. The convergence of regulatory support for AI, intensifying competition, and the need for efficiency is fueling strong demand for our solutions. This investment enables us to accelerate innovation and scale adoption, helping more financial institutions leverage AI to deliver greater impact for the communities they serve.”
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