Auto Finance News recognizes the co-founder of the AI-native loan origination and account opening platform used by credit unions, banks and consumer lenders across consumer and commercial lending, at the Auto Finance Summit in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, OCTOBER 6, 2026. Fuse, the AI-native loan origination and account opening platform trusted by more than 100 financial institutions, today announced that Co-founder Andres Klaric has been named a 2026 Rising Star by Auto Finance News. The recognition was presented at the Auto Finance Excellence Awards Luncheon during the Auto Finance Summit 2026 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, the industry's leading auto lending and leasing conference.
The Rising Star Award, launched this year as part of the Auto Finance Excellence Awards presented annually since 2005, recognizes professionals early in their automotive finance careers who are already making a meaningful impact on the industry, with strong leadership potential, measurable results and the ability to influence others.
From the Dealership Floor to the Lender's Technology Stack
Klaric's path into auto finance started on the sales floor. He sold cars to pay for college before a career in finance and technology that led him to co-found Fuse in 2020 with Marc Escapa, whom he met at Harvard Business School. In recent years, he has led Fuse's move into auto lending, building a dealer-facing origination stack, a multi-offer dealer portal, and no-code decisioning that credit teams change without waiting on engineering.
"I started in this industry selling cars, and I have never forgotten what it feels like to sit across from a buyer waiting on a lender's decision. Auto lenders have been running on origination technology designed decades ago, and the dealers and borrowers pay for it in time. We built Fuse so that the lending side of the car business finally runs on software that moves as fast as the sales side. This recognition belongs to the team and to the lenders who trusted us to replace systems their entire dealer networks depended on."
Andres Klaric, Co-founder, Fuse
Results Auto Lenders Can Measure
Under Klaric's leadership, Fuse has delivered the kind of indirect auto results that replacements of legacy origination systems rarely produce. A multi-state non-prime auto lender replaced the origination system its entire dealer network ran on and had every dealer live on Fuse within a quarter of kickoff, with dealer management system connections, vehicle valuations and automated decisioning in place from day one. Replacements at that scale routinely take years, and many stall before go-live. Lenders on Fuse decision and fund indirect auto loans in minutes rather than the better part of an hour, and their credit teams change decisioning rules themselves instead of waiting on engineering.
In June 2026, FIS, the global financial technology leader, formed a strategic alliance with Fuse to bring AI-powered origination to indirect auto and equipment lenders across the United States.
"Andres is the reason Fuse is in auto. He walked in knowing the business from the dealership side, and he refused to accept that the lending side had to be slow. He brought FIS to the table, and he still works the booth at most events we attend. Rising Star is the right name for it."
Marc Escapa, Co-founder, Fuse
A Year of Industry Recognition
The Rising Star recognition caps a year in which the lending industry moved decisively toward Fuse. Alongside the FIS alliance, Navatros, the business solutions division of the Ohio Credit Union League, selected Fuse as its lending technology partner in August after a year of due diligence. Callahan & Associates named Fuse a winner of its 2026 Reimagining Lending Award.
ABOUT FUSE
Fuse is the AI-native loan origination and account opening platform trusted by more than 100 financial institutions, including credit unions, banks, and consumer lenders. Backed by more than $25 million from the investors behind Chime and OpenAI, Fuse pairs a modern, fully configurable platform with a Proactive Automation model that is guaranteed in the contract. Fuse is headquartered in New York. Learn more at