Here is a startup that raised $6 million from the very customers it serves. Not venture capitalists chasing the next unicorn. Not some distant institutional investors. The actual credit unions using the product wrote the checks.
Reset, a fintech helping credit unions offer earned wage access without the predatory fees, just closed a seed round where more than two-thirds of the funding came directly from its credit union partners. That’s not just validation — it’s a statement.
When Your Customers Become Your Investors
The round was anchored by heavy hitters in the credit union space: Georgia’s Own Credit Union, InTouch Credit Union, Chartway Credit Union, VyStar Credit Union, and One Washington Financial (a WSECU holding company). Also joining the party were Curql, a strategic investment fund backed by over 160 credit union limited partners; Navari (formerly CUSG); and the Bankers Helping Bankers Fund, representing about 30 community banks.
This brings Reset’s total capital raised to over $8 million, and the company plans to funnel the fresh cash into sales capacity, product development, and rolling out implementations already in motion.
“When your customers lead your funding round, there is no clearer market signal,” said Matt Dicou, CEO and co-founder of Reset. “These credit unions aren’t just writing a check. They’re making a decision about where they want to take their members, their institutions, and the credit union industry.”
The Neobank Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About
Let’s be honest: companies like Chime have been eating credit unions’ lunch. The neobank pulled in hundreds of millions in new revenue and billions in deposits during their first year offering earned wage access. And yeah, a lot of those deposits came straight from credit union members looking for something their local institution couldn’t offer.
“We’re not just going to sit back and watch our members leave for neobanks,” said Kent Lugrand, President and CEO of InTouch Credit Union. “Partnering with Reset gives us the ability to fight back and stay relevant for the members who depend on us the most.”
Translation: Credit unions finally have a way to compete without compromising their values or member relationships.
How Reset Actually Works
Instead of building some standalone app that pulls members away from their primary bank, Reset embeds directly into a credit union’s existing tech stack. Members can access their earned wages daily — fee-free — through a card issued by the credit union itself. No predatory payday loans. No sketchy third-party apps. Just their trusted financial institution offering a modern service people actually need.
The clever part? The product is designed to strengthen direct deposit relationships. The more a member deposits with their credit union, the more spending capacity they unlock through Reset. And because Reset leverages the latest card network technology, credit unions generate premium credit interchange revenue on everyday purchases like groceries, gas, and utility bills.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Data from credit union case studies shows the model is working:
- Reset cardholders increase their deposits by an average of 27%
- Checking account balances run 36% higher than previous levels
- Credit unions generate 20% more in credit interchange revenue
- 100% of members surveyed post-launch said Reset improved their financial stability
That last stat is worth pausing on. When you hit 100% satisfaction in financial services, you’re doing something right.
Why Credit Unions Are Betting on This
“Our members are already looking for this, and until now, they’ve had to turn to other options,” said Kevan Williamson, CTO of Georgia’s Own Credit Union. “Reset levels the playing field for our members. We invested because we’ve seen what it does for members’ financial stability, and because we believe credit unions should be the ones offering it.”
Rob Keatts, EVP and Chief Growth Officer at Chartway Credit Union, put it even more simply: “Members should not have to wait days to access money they’ve already earned. Reset helps close that gap in a way that aligns with our purpose and works through the credit union rather than around it.”
Scott Daukas, Chief Partnership Officer at One Washington Financial, added: “What drew us to Reset is that they built an EWA solution around how members actually earn and spend. That commitment to meeting members where they are is what makes Reset stand out.”
Real Traction, Not Just Hype
Reset isn’t just raising money and making promises. The company has already signed multiple multi-year enterprise contracts with credit unions, generating revenue through platform subscriptions, implementation services, and interchange revenue sharing.
The accolades are piling up too. In 2025, Reset won Best in Show at VentureTech, a conference bringing together around 130 credit unions and fintech companies. They were also selected for Curql’s Spring 2025 Accelerate program. Earlier this year, Reset earned a spot in the Filene Research Institute’s FiLab program — one of only six fintechs chosen nationwide. Through FiLab, they’re currently piloting with six credit unions representing 1.2 million members across five states and $17 billion in combined assets.
Built by People Who Get It
Here’s where the story gets personal. All three of Reset’s co-founders built this company from lived experience, not some Stanford dorm room thought experiment (well, two of them did get MBAs from Stanford, but stick with me here).
Dicou spent over six years in the earned wage access space, including leading Visa’s EWA vertical in North America. But his real education came from watching his father work up to four jobs at a time. He funded his own college by running a small business and later did handyman work to support his family.
“I wasn’t building for any abstract reason,” Dicou said. “I was building it for my dad. For people who work hard, show up every day, and still face the constant complexity of making ends meet amidst rigid pay cycles. We’re making financial products that fit how people actually live — not how someone at a desk thinks they should.”
Co-founder and COO/CFO Wes Rodriguez is a first-generation American who spent nearly a decade in nonprofit leadership roles working with lower-income communities. He brings over 12 years of experience at the intersection of financial services and enterprise tech, starting on Wall Street at Evercore and later joining Salesforce’s corporate development team, where he worked on $50 billion in M&A transactions.
Co-founder and CTO Brian Mascarenhas, also a first-generation American, brings more than 20 years of experience building and scaling startup technology. His background includes deep work in payments infrastructure, compliance, and financial inclusion. Before Reset, he helped develop Upstart’s core money-movement platform and scaled their engineering organization from early-stage startup through their 2020 IPO.
The Bigger Picture
This funding round is about more than money. It’s a signal that credit unions are ready to fight for their members instead of watching them drift to flashier alternatives. When the institutions you serve believe in your mission enough to invest their own capital, you’re onto something.
And for the millions of Americans living paycheck to paycheck — people who shouldn’t have to wait two weeks to access money they’ve already earned — that’s a signal worth paying attention to.